The East-West Highway Project Management Board and Japanese contractor Obayashi on Saturday poured final concrete to link up the Thu Thiem tunnel.
According to board director Luong Minh Phuc, to date, 80 percent of workload on the tunnel, which is built across the Saigon River in Ho Chi Minh City, has been completed.
In order to ensure the inauguration of the tunnel on schedule, the management board and the contractor are arranging three shifts a day with 300 engineers and workers each, Phuc said.
He added that the third package of the project, the mechanics-electricity package, will begin after concrete blocks get stabilized. The package includes installing water supply, lighting, firefighting, ventilation, air pollution measurement and vehicle counting systems with international standards. The package is estimated to take six months.
The Thu Thiem tunnel, which is about 1,490m in length, 33m in width and 9m in height, with six lanes, is scheduled for technical test runs in March next year.
The whole East-West Highway, including the Thu Thiem tunnel, is expected to open to traffic in June 2011.
Once operational, the tunnel can accommodate around 45,000 automobiles and 15,000 motorbikes each day.
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