The work should finish in 2025 in time for the 50th anniversary of national reunification, HCMC Vice Chairman Vo Van Hoan said at the signing ceremony to execute the project on Saturday.

Highway 22 is currently the only road connecting HCMC with Moc Bai Border Gate in the southern province of Tay Ninh, and is overloaded with traffic to and from Cambodia.

The 53.5 km expressway is expected to reduce the congestion and bolster the development of HCMC, Tay Ninh and the region.

Its feasibility study is set to be approved next September and compensation for land acquisition and resettlement of evictees will follow soon afterward. Tenders to select investors will be invited in March 2021.

The first phase will involve construction of two separate sections of highway. The first will be a 33 km section from Ring Road 3 in Hoc Mon District, HCMC to Trang Bang, a district in Tay Ninh Province, which will have four lanes and a design speed of 120 km per hour.

Of the $460 million first-phase investment capital, VND8 trillion ($344 million) will come from private investors. The remaining is land compensation costs to be covered by HCMC and Tay Ninh.

The second section from Trang Bang to Moc Bai, 20.5 km long, will also have four lanes with a design speed of 80 km per hour. After the two sections are completed, the second phase of construction will expand expressway to 6-8 lanes. The cost of phase two has yet to be announced.

The project has been planned for a long time but delayed.