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At the construction site of Cat Lai bridge (Photo: VNA) |
Previously, the Dong Nai Provincial People’s Committee proposed to invest in the Cat Lai Bridge project before 2025 with a scale of eight lanes to replace the Cat Lai Ferry, which is often overloaded during the holidays.
However, according to the municipal Department of Transport, the Ministry of Transport is currently investing in building Nhon Trach Bridge connecting Nhon Trach district in Dong Nai with a scale of four lanes and is expected to invest in adding four lanes to serve the traffic connection needs for rudimentary vehicles. The completion time of Nhon Trach Bridge in early 2026 has basically solved a part of the traffic connection demand between Nhon Trach and the City.
In addition, the route of Nguyen Thi Dinh in and out of Cat Lai Port on the City side is overloaded, with frequent traffic jams. Currently, HCMC is studying the investment to build the Cat Lai – Phu Huu inter-port road, connecting Nguyen Thi Dinh Street and the intersection of Ring Road 3 of the City, which is expected to be completed and put into use in 2026 – 2030.
Therefore, the City's Department of Transport thinks that the proposed time to invest in the construction of a bridge to replace the Cat Lai Ferry, which is expected to be in the 2026-2030 period, is appropriate, after completing Cat Lai – Phu Huu – Ring Road 3.
The Cat Lai Bridge project will connect District 2 in HCMC to Nhon Trach district in Dong Nai province.
According to the city Department of Transport, the bridge will be 4.5km long and have eight lanes.
Once completed, it will facilitate transport from HCMC not only to Nhon Trach District but also to the rest of Dong Nai and Ba Ria – Vung Tau province.
In the near future, when Long Thanh International Airport becomes operational (in Dong Nai province), Cat Lai Bridge will connect HCMC with the airport, helping ease congestion on the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway.
The first section of the road, which is 623m long in District 2, leads to the bridge. The province has asked the Government to choose HCMC to be the leader of the work on the section.
The total investment of the first section is VND755 billion (US$32.6 million), including VND215 billion (US$9.2 million) for construction costs and VND540 billion (US$23.3 million) for site clearance.
The second section, which is 263m long in Nhon Trach district, leads to the bridge. The province will be in charge of this section.
The total investment of this section is VND410 billion (US$17.7 million) including VND134 billion (US$.7 million) for construction costs and VND276 billion (US$11.9 million) for site clearance.
The provincial People's Committee will also be in charge of the construction of the bridge with a total investment of VND4.9 trillion (US$211.6 million) in the form of a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.
In addition to Cat Lai Bridge, the City People's Committee is discussing with the People's Committee of Dong Nai Province the traffic connection plan for Phu My II and Dong Nai II bridges.
