Comments on the urban picture of Ho Chi Minh City were made by Mr. Tran Quang Lam at the conference to summarize the implementation of socio-economic development tasks in 2023 and disseminate and deploy tasks in 2024 of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, held on the morning of January 6.

Mr. Tran Quang Lam said that in 2023, the capital of the transport sector accounts for 60% of the capital of the whole city, the transport and railway departments alone are more than 40,000 billion VND, if adding the capital of the district and county project management boards, it is about 45,000 billion VND, equal to half of the transport sector of the whole country. Up to now, the transport sector has disbursed over 70%, equal to 2.5 - 3 times of previous years.

Regarding the 2024 task, Mr. Tran Quang Lam said that he will focus on planning work, especially general planning, city planning, zoning planning, and planning of key projects, to avoid prolonging and affecting project progress.

The second is the urban railway project group. Currently, metro line No. 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien) is on track to reach the finish line, with commercial operation starting in July 2024; while metro line No. 2 will start construction in 2025. According to Conclusion 49 of 2023 of the Politburo, Ho Chi Minh City must basically complete the urban railway network with a total length of 320 km.

The third key task that Mr. Tran Quang Lam mentioned is to focus on the expressway and belt system. Ho Chi Minh City has 3 belts, of which Belt 2 has some unfinished sections, Belt 3 has started construction and is expected to be completed in 2026, and Belt 4 is preparing documents to start construction in 2024.

Regarding the expressway system, the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai and Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh routes are also being urgently implemented, implementing the mechanism of decentralization and authorization to localities as competent state agencies.

Regarding national highways, Mr. Tran Quang Lam informed that National Highway 50 is under construction, 3 routes (National Highway 1, National Highway 13 and National Highway 22) have been included in the list of projects implemented under the BOT (build - operate - transfer) form. In addition, other projects connecting the center of Ho Chi Minh City to the belt such as Binh Tien Bridge, Nguyen Khoi Bridge, Can Gio Bridge... have also been balanced with capital and approved for investment policies.

Regarding waterway transportation, Mr. Tran Quang Lam said that Can Gio international transit port is being adjusted by Ho Chi Minh City and the Ministry of Transport to plan Vietnam's seaports and group 4 seaports.

Ho Chi Minh City's transport sector strives to start 16 projects and complete 38 main items or completed projects in 2024, focusing on key projects and removing PPP projects after inspection and audit conclusions.

The Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport proposed solutions to free up capital and human resources for expressways, beltways, and urban railways. Regarding materials, Mr. Lam said that some key projects in the Southeast region are lacking sand, or that Beltway 3 is also behind on some road construction packages.

In 2024, the transport sector will introduce a number of construction quality inspection projects; apply science and technology in construction management and project operation.

"2024 will be the year of rapid infrastructure development, and in a few years the city's urban landscape will be different, brighter, and much more modern," said Mr. Tran Quang Lam, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport.