Binh Duong (VNA)🐲 – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on February 1 (or the fourth day of the lunar new year) attended a groundbreaking ceremony of the Ho Chi Minh City – Thu Dau Mot – Chon Thanh expressway’s section running through the southern province of Binh Duong.

The Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh expressway’s Binh Duong section is more than 52km long. It is designed with six lanes, enabling vehicles with maximum speed of 100 km per hour. This is the first expressway connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc provinces, and then with Gia Nghia - Chon Thanh expressway to link to the Central Highlands region, thus creating development momentum for the Southeast region. In the first phase 1, it will be built under the public – private partnership (PPP) form with an investment of more than 8.88 trillion VND (356 million USD) in 36 months. Highlighting the importance of the Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh expressway, the PM instructed HCM City to start construction of 3km section of the expressway and Binh Phuoc province build 7km, that run through the two localities. Once these sections together with the section in Binh Duong province are completed, the entire expressway will be smoothly connected to the traffic system, linking the Central Highlands an Southeast regions and the whole country. He asked the People's Committee of Binh Duong province to direct the project’s investors, supervisors and consultants, and contractors to uphold high sense of responsibility, ensuring that the project meets all deadlines, quality standards, safety, technique, and environmental requirements. At the same time, they need to mobilise personnel and modern equipment to carry out the construction in accordance with technical requirements and legal regulations, while preventing corruption, waste, and negative practices. The PM requested relevant central ministries, sectors and localities to closely follow the project, manage the quality and progress, remove difficulties and obstacles during the project implementation process. Besides, localities must actively accelerate site clearance and technical infrastructure relocation. In particular, special attention must be paid to resettlement, supporting affected people stabilise their production. Also at the event, he praised Binh Duong province for giving investment decisions to seven social housing projects with a total investment of nearly 8.5 trillion VND, expected to provide 9,200 apartments for workers and low-incomers, and granting investment licenses to eight foreign investment projects with a total investment of more than 1.2 billion USD on the occasion. He requested cities and provinces to learn from Binh Duong in developing social housing, and eliminating substandard houses in 2025./.