Section Traffic
Ho Chi Minh City to break ground on $3.7B metro and expressway to Long Thanh airport this month
By
Giang Anh
Fri 4/3/2026, 07:29 pm (PT)
Ho Chi Minh City will launch more than a dozen major infrastructure projects on April 30, with a combined investment exceeding VND341 trillion (US$13 billion) spanning metro lines, an expressway, three deep-water ports, and a new administrative center.
A rendering of the Ben Thanh-Thu Thiem metro line running underground beneath Mai Chi Tho Road in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo courtesy of Thaco
The construction blitz is centered on connecting Vietnam's largest city to Long Thanh International Airport, a $16-billion mega-hub in neighboring Dong Nai Province expected to begin operations in late 2026.
Two of the headline projects, a new metro line and a four-lane expressway, are designed to feed directly into the airport corridor.
The Ben Thanh-Thu Thiem metro line, a 6.2-km fully underground section with six stations, will run from Ben Thanh station in the city center along the Ham Nghi axis, cross the Saigon River into the Thu Thiem new urban area, and continue along Mai Chi Tho Road to its terminal station.
The line has a total investment of VND46.295 trillion ($1.76 billion), with Dai Quang Minh Real Estate Investment JSC, a subsidiary of conglomerate Thaco, as the investor under a public-private partnership.
The section forms part of Metro Line 2, a 62-km network that will eventually stretch from Thu Thiem to the northwest Cu Chi urban area.
