Concerns that trucks will create disturbances on Nguyen Van Linh Parkway in Phu My Hung in HCMC’s District 7 after the recent opening of the Phu My Bridge . . .

According to the HCMC Goods Transport Association, some 5,000 trucks will begin transporting goods from Cat Lai Port in HCMC’s District 2 to Mekong Delta provinces everyday. Owning to the bridge, travel distances have been shortened by 25 to 45 km, cutting fuel costs for truck owners. As such, it is likely traffic will increase in Phu My Hung soon.

Bui Thanh Son, PMH’s vice president, told the Daily that developers had not envisaged that the town would include Phu My Bridge when it was designed nearly 20 years ago. Nor did it foresee HCMC-Trung Luong Expressway, which was opened to traffic recently.

Son said Phu My Hung had invested some US$100 million to build the 17.8-kilometer-long Nguyen Van Linh Parkway, which is 120 meters wide and designed for 14 lanes.

In return for the road investment, PMH has been allowed to establish five residential sections along the road. Section A is already finished with some 10,000 housing units.

The other sections - B, C, D and E - will include a university, a high-tech center and a nature reservation park, among other facilities. They are still in the planning stage due to unfinished site clearance though.

Son said the Ministry of Construction, municipal authorities and relevant organizations had approved the scheme. Therefore, the project owner could not build whatever it wanted.

“The boulevard has not been taken over by traffic as seen today,” Son said in opposition to experts’ opinions that PMH should not have built a residential area so close to the road for profit’s sake.

However, he agreed that traffic pressure would increase on the new urban town, as infrastructure connectivity would be completed soon.

“Relevant organizations will have to jump on the problem to adjust directions and signal lights, if any. That is in their hands,” Son said.

He added that not all of the urban towns would be developed along the 18-kilometer boulevard. Currently, there are some 70 houses located along each side of the road. Most of them are leased for companies and banks’ offices.

VietNamNet/SGT