Greater Mekong Subregion

Phnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh City Highway Project (Loans 1659 and 1660)

Overview

In November 1998, ADB approved loans amounting to $40 million and $100 million to Cambodia and Viet Nam -- loans 1659 and 1660 respectively -- from ADB's Special Fund resources for rehabilitation of parts of the Phnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Highway Project.

The objective of the ADB loans is to encourage traffic and trade flows between Cambodia and Viet Nam by:

• improving the Project road,
• improving facilities at the border crossing, and
• facilitating Government efforts to reduce bureaucratic and procedural constraints to cross-border trade.

The Project forms part of the subregional road project, R1: Bangkok-Phnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh City-Vung Tau Road Improvement Project. It will improve the road to the standard required by the traffic projected to use it for domestic and international purposes over the 10-year period from 2002 to 2012.

In Cambodia, the Project components include:

• reconstruction of 105 km of the road from the eastern landing of the Mekong River ferry crossing at Neouk Leoung to the border with Viet Nam at Bavet,
• complete reconstruction or rehabilitation of several bridges in poor condition or with low load capacity,
• construction of customs, immigration, and other infrastructure and buildings on the Cambodian side of the border crossing, and
• minor improvements to about 60 km of the road, from Phnom Penh -- eastern abutment of the Monivong Bridge -- to the Mekong River ferry.

In Viet Nam, the Project components include:

• reconstruction of about 80 km of the road, including 22 km of Highway 1 between Thu Duc and An Suong, which also serves as an outer ring-road to the north of HCMC, and 58 km of Highway 22, between An Suong and the border with Cambodia at Moc Bai,
• construction of the road within the suburban area of HCMC as a divided carriageway for capacity and safety reasons, and
• construction of customs, immigration, and other infrastructure and buildings on the Vietnamese side of the border crossing.

Project Cost and Financing ($ million)

Status

Completed.

For detailed information on project status, please email:

gms@adb.org