VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City is working on multiple infrastructure projects to deal with chronic congestion near Tan Son Nhat Airport and Cat Lai Port, a senior city transportation official said.

Illustrative image -- File photo

Bui Xuan Cuong, director of the HCMC Department of Transport, told a review meeting on the city’s socio-economic performance in January-July on August 1 that in the area around the busy airport, the city has completed several projects including Pham Van Dong Street connected to the airport, Truong Son Street, Cong Hoa Street overpass, and the steel bridge at Lang Cha Ca.

Cuong said Tan Son Nhat can now handle over 30 million passengers per year, well above its designed capacity of 25 million. The number is seen continuing rising.

As work on a new international airport in Long Thanh in neighboring Dong Nai Province begins in 2019, traffic outside Tan Son Nhat Airport will remain as heavy as ever in at least 10 more years.

He said the city needs to assess the whole infrastructure system, build more elevated roads, add new terminals and more transit points at Go Vap Intersection, and consider alternative roads in parallel with Cong Hoa Street.

Cuong said the most urgent thing to do is to construct two overpasses to eliminate traffic bottlenecks: a Y-shaped overpass for vehicles entering the international and domestic terminals, and an overpass from Pham Van Dong and Nguyen Kiem streets to the airport.

The projects can be completed by the end of the year if things progress smoothly, Cuong said.

The second congestion-prone hotspot pointed out at the meeting is the area surrounding Cai Lai Port. Cargo throughput at the port has reached to 43 million tons per year, compared to its capacity of 36 million tons.

Cuong warned traffic in this area could worsen since the number of vehicles travelling to the port is spiking and cargo volume in the first six months surged by 11% year-on-year.

The port is under huge pressure as it serves as a transit point for 60% of cargo to and from Cai Mep Port in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

Cuong said electronic customs procedures are now being implemented to ease congestion at Cat Lai. While only 15% of cargo is being cleared electronically at the moment, the goal is to bring that to 100% by year-end.

The city is also implementing 10 infrastructure projects in the port area, such as constructing My Thuy Intersection and a road connecting My Thuy and Phu Huu, expanding Nguyen Thi Dinh Bridge to 60 meters in width and completing the new Binh Loi Bridge by August next year to transport cargo on the Saigon River from Binh Duong and Tay Ninh provinces to Cat Lai.

At a meeting last week, a lot of transport companies complained about congestion on the roads leading to the port.

Trinh Chau Khanh, director of Kim Loi Minh transport company, said traffic jams in the area have worsened. He said it now takes at least six hours to pick up a container at the port, and even a whole day during weekends.

Khanh blamed congestion at the port gate for inefficient manual procedures, which require each vehicle to wait 15 minutes.

At a recent conference on logistics centers for HCMC, the Vietnam Logistics Business Association complained that on Fridays it might take three hours to travel 12 kilometers from the tollgate on Hanoi Highway to Cat Lai due to heavy traffic.

Statistics from the transport department showed that an average of 17,000 vehicles travel to and from the port a day. On peak days the number could shoot up to 19,000-21,000.

Ngo Minh Thuan, deputy general director of Saigon Newport Corporation, the operator of Cat Lai Port, said an upsurge in cargo throughput has led to a 10.3% increase in vehicles compared to last year. He also admitted entry procedures remain time-consuming for cargo trucks.

Cuong of the transport department told the meeting last week that Saigon Newport Corporation should extend the docking time for vessels and encourage enterprises to receive cargo at other ports, such as Hiep Phuoc Port in Nha Be District and Cai Mep Port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.

Cuong suggested the corporation work with customs agencies to create a mechanism for direct cargo delivery and pick-up at these ports.

Regarding funding for transport projects, Cuong said the department is managing a limited budget of VND1.8 trillion (US$80.78 million) and will focus on financing projects set to begin from now to the end of the year. They include An Suong Intersection, Go May Intersection on National Highway 1, Ring Road 2 and Vuon Lai Street.

SGT