Cambodia and Vietnam accelerate and upgrade land borders links

Ho Chi Minh City is moving ahead with a sweeping road-building program that, combined with major upgrades in Cambodia, is set to transform one of Southeast Asia’s busiest overland travel corridors linking the southern Vietnamese hub with Phnom Penh.

City authorities have approved three major road projects totaling US$1.55 billion, all designed to improve connectivity to Tay Ninh Province, the gateway to the key Bavet (Cambodia)–Moc Bai (Vietnam) border crossing. The crossing is already the primary land route for both tourism and freight between the two countries, but infrastructure constraints have long slowed journeys.

However, the situation on Cambodia western border with Thailand -land borders have been closed since June- pushes both Vietnam and Cambodia to speed up the development of new road links. Cambodia foresees Vietnam as replacing Thailand as a major international gateway to its own territory. 

Vietnam accelerates access to the border

The largest of the three planned projects is the extension of Vo Van Kiet Boulevard, a major east–west artery cutting through Ho Chi Minh City. The road will be extended by 12.1 km at a width of 60 meters, directly linking the city to Tay Ninh’s road network near the Cambodian border. With an estimated cost of $657 million, the project is expected to significantly reduce travel times for passengers and goods heading toward Cambodia.

The two other roads will connect Ho Chi Minh City with industrial zones around the metropolis while another one will speed road connections toward the Mekong Delta. Together, the three roads will diversify traffic flows currently concentrated on National Highways 1 and 22.

Officials aim to break ground in Q3 2026, with completion targeted by late 2027—timed to align with cross-border infrastructure upgrades.

Cambodia upgrades Phnom Penh–border corridor

On the Cambodian side, the existing backbone remains National Road 1, a roughly 160 km route linking Phnom Penh to the border city of Bavet. While functional, it is often congested with trucks and buses, with travel times ranging from 2.5 to 4 hours depending on conditions.

To address this, Cambodia is building the Phnom Penh–Bavet expressway, a $1.6 billion project stretching about 135 km and largely paralleling the current highway. Construction began in 2023, with completion expected between early and mid 2027.

Once open, the expressway is expected to cut travel time to around 2.5–3 hours and dramatically improve reliability for both tourists and freight operators. The upgrade is particularly significant given the importance of the Bavet–Moc Bai crossing, located about 70 km from Ho Chi Minh City.

At the border itself, facilities have been modernized in recent years, but bottlenecks still occur during peak periods due to heavy truck traffic and administrative procedures. The new infrastructure on both sides aims to ease these constraints.

Taken together, Vietnam’s road expansion from Ho Chi Minh City and Cambodia’s new expressway from Phnom Penh are creating a seamless, high-capacity corridor between the two capitals. For travelers, this means faster and more predictable journeys. For the region, it marks a major step forward in integrating tourism flows across one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic cross-border routes.