Adjust some key projects to comply with regulations and practices

Saturday, 11/01/2025

Yesterday afternoon of January 10, Mr. Vo Van Minh, Deputy Secretary of Binh Duong provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee chaired the 81st meeting of the provincial People's Committee. Attending the meeting was Mr. Bui Minh Thanh, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee.

Adjusting the speed limit on National Highway 13

The report at the meeting said that National Highway 13 is the backbone traffic axis connecting Binh Duong province, Binh Phuoc province and the Central Highlands provinces with Ho Chi Minh City, playing a particularly important role in the socio-economic development of Binh Duong province. Although it was upgraded more than 20 years ago, in recent years the road has been overloaded and congested during rush hours. Currently, National Highway 13 has a cross-section of 6 lanes, 3 lanes on each side; vehicles travel at a maximum speed of 60km/h in urban areas, densely populated areas and 90km/h in non-urban areas.

The adjustment to increase the maximum speed allowed for vehicles to travel on National Highway 13 (from Vinh Binh Bridge to Tham Rot Bridge) aims to overcome traffic infrastructure shortcomings and traffic congestion.

Based on the opinions of the competent authorities, the provisions of Circular No. 31/2019/TT-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport and the current status of National Highway 13, the Department of Transport has proposed to the provincial People's Committee a plan to adjust the maximum speed allowed for vehicles to travel on National Highway 13 passing through the province. This adjustment is aimed at overcoming shortcomings in traffic infrastructure and traffic congestion. Specifically, according to the Pilot Draft on adjusting the maximum speed allowed for vehicles to travel on National Highway 13 (from Vinh Binh Bridge to Tham Rot Bridge), the section passing through urban areas and densely populated areas, the speed on the first lane (close to the median strip) is 70km/h (currently 60km/h), the second lane and the third lane maintain the same speed as the current status (lane order from the median strip to the sidewalk). Particularly the section through the inner city of Ben Cat City (section from Km36+421 + Km41+857) has many consecutive curves that do not meet technical standards, so the current operating speed must be maintained.

The 81st meeting of the provincial People's Committee reviewed and approved 19 draft resolutions with many important contents, such as: Draft resolution promulgating the list of land plots for bidding to select investors to implement investment projects using land in the province in 2025; Draft resolution adjusting the investment policy of the Ho Chi Minh city Vanh Dai 4 construction project in the province; reporting on some contents related to the investment project to upgrade and expand National Highway 13.

At the meeting, representatives of the Department of Transport proposed solutions to ensure traffic safety when adjusting the maximum speed allowed for vehicles traveling on National Highway 13, such as: Organizing the review, adjustment, and supplementing the road signaling system related to the adjustment of the maximum speed allowed on the route; reviewing the locations where the median strip is opened and traffic lights are not yet installed; considering solutions such as closing the median strip, organizing traffic with a traffic light system (green, red, yellow). The Department of Transport proposed to study the renovation of the median strip, rearrange the lanes to arrange light beams and left-turn lanes at intersections organized by traffic lights (green, red, yellow); reviewing the overall traffic light system at intersections on National Highway 13; having solutions to adjust traffic light beams appropriately, ensuring smooth traffic.

Adjusting investment policy for Vanh Dai 4 to ensure compliance with regulations

According to the Draft Proposal on "Adjusting the investment policy of the Ho Chi Minh City Vanh Dai 4 construction investment project, Thu Bien Bridge - Saigon River section" (phase 1) under the public-private partnership (PPP) method, the design speed is 100km/h according to the expressway standard, the scale of the road is 8 lanes, the roadbed is 74.5m wide for the sections from Thu Bien - DT742, the section from Thoi An Bridge - Saigon River; the section from DT742 to Thoi An Bridge is about 12km long, the roadbed is 62m wide, with a scale of 4 expressway lanes on the upper level and 4 expressway lanes below. The expected implementation time of the project is from 2023 to 2027; in which the project preparation phase is from 2023 to 2024, the implementation phase and basic completion is from 2025 to 2027.

Regarding the adjustment of the total investment, the preliminary total investment of the project is 23,639.8 billion VND. Regarding the adjustment of the division of project components, including: Component project 1 - Site clearance of Ho Chi Minh city Vanh Dai 4 from Thu Bien Bridge - Saigon River; Component project 2 - Investment in the construction of Ho Chi Minh city Vanh Dai 4 from Thu Bien Bridge - Saigon River (phase 1); Component project 3 - Investment in the construction of parallel roads and connecting roads to the Industrial - Service - Urban Complex.

According to the Draft Report on "Adjusting the investment policy of the Ho Chi Minh city Vanh Dai 4 construction investment project from Thu Bien Bridge to Saigon River", the project adjustment aims to ensure the uniformity of the cross-section of the 12km section (from DT742 to Thoi An Bridge) of the urban road phase 1 in accordance with the entire route and the National Technical Regulations on expressways; implementing the direction of the Prime Minister in Notice No. 465/TB-VPCP dated October 12, 2024, the conclusion notice of Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan No. 69/TB-BGTVT dated April 11, 2024 on preparing the dossier of the Ho Chi Minh City Vanh Dai 4 construction investment project.

The remaining contents are implemented according to Resolution No. 26/NQ-HDND dated August 23, 2024 of the provincial People's Council.

Concluding the meeting, Mr. Vo Van Minh, Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee basically agreed with the contents of the draft. At the same time, the Chairman of the provincial People's Committee requested the units to absorb comments from the Standing Committee of the provincial People's Council and delegates, and adjust the draft resolutions to submit to the provincial People's Council for approval; for the draft decisions issued by the provincial People's Committee, the units should promptly complete them for submission for promulgation.

Reported by Phuong Le - Translated by Vi Bao