Difficulties surround the project to renovate the longest canal in Ho Chi Minh City

TPO – A series of problems have arisen, causing the Tham Luong – Ben Cat – Rach Nuoc Len canal renovation project – the longest canal in Ho Chi Minh City – to be at risk of being behind schedule.

The project to build infrastructure and improve the environment of Tham Luong - Ben Cat - Nuoc Len canal (connecting Long An province via Cho Dem river and Binh Duong and Dong Nai provinces via Saigon river) has a total investment of 8,200 billion VND (including central budget capital: 4,000 billion VND and Ho Chi Minh City budget capital: 4,200 billion VND).

The project started in February 2023 and will be implemented along the canal passing through 7 districts including Binh Chanh district and districts 12, Binh Tan, Tan Phu, Tan Binh, Go Vap, Binh Thanh with a total length of nearly 32km.

The main scale of the project includes dredging the canal bed, reinforcing the concrete embankment on both banks, building 7-12m wide roads along both sides of the canal, technical infrastructure systems for collecting rainwater and wastewater, green parks and lighting systems. Ho Chi Minh City has planned to bring this project to the "finish line" on the occasion of April 30, 2025.

According to the latest report of the Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City Urban Infrastructure Construction Investment Project (abbreviated as Urban Infrastructure Board) - the investor), up to now, the total construction volume of the project has reached about 37.90%. The project is facing many difficulties and problems that need to be resolved soon.

A section of Tham Luong canal (through District 12, Ho Chi Minh City) is under construction. Photo: Huu Huy

The major problem is that the dumping site for the dredged sludge from the project has not been identified. According to the project feasibility study report, the dumping site receiving the soil and sludge generated from the project is identified at Sub-area 3 project, Binh Tri Dong B ward, Binh Tan district, Go Vap Cultural Park in Ward 6, Go Vap district and the Solid Waste Treatment Complex in Da Phuoc commune, Binh Chanh district.

However, the investor said that when implementing the project, the people, the competent authorities, and specialized departments did not agree, so currently, soil and mud are temporarily gathered at the construction site, hindering the construction site of the next items as well as making it impossible to conduct acceptance and disbursement of capital for excavation and transportation of soil...

According to the project investor, the above amount of excess soil and mud has been determined not to be hazardous waste, so it should be utilized to fill in public works managed by Ho Chi Minh City to avoid wasting resources. However, if localities still do not have the need to utilize it as in the past, it is expected that the Urban Infrastructure Board will propose to transfer it to other locations in need in District 12... managed by households in need after coordinating with specialized departments, professional agencies and local authorities to carry out other related procedures.

In addition, the project is also facing land issues due to households re-encroaching on the area that has been compensated and supported for resettlement in phase 1 (including 21 cases: Binh Thanh district: 1 case; District 12: 2 cases; Go Vap district: 1 case; Binh Tan district: 15 cases and Binh Chanh district: 2 cases).

The investor recommends that the People's Committees of localities coordinate in propaganda, mobilization or have a plan to dismantle, reclaim and hand over the site to ensure construction progress.

In addition to the above issues, the project investor also said that adjusting and adding some items to the project is also difficult. The reason is that the design documents have many shortcomings due to complicated geology and lack of traffic connection. This requires adjusting some items to suit the reality. However, the project's contingency cost is low, not enough to carry out the next steps.

Currently, some adjusted and supplemented items have been completed by the Contractor but there is no basis for acceptance and payment. The Investor is synthesizing, classifying and will approve the documents for items under its authority.

According to the investor, the project is still facing difficulties in the supply of materials such as sand, stone, etc. At the same time, the content of the unit price of materials on the current market when delivered to the construction site is higher than the bid price of the contractors. This is understood to mean that the construction contractor is losing money during the construction process due to the high price of input materials, leading to financial imbalance during the construction process. This is a major cause of delays in construction progress outside the construction site.

With the above difficulties, the investor is synthesizing and classifying specific difficult cases and will report to the competent authority for instructions on implementation.

Regarding the disbursement of public investment capital at the project, the investor expects that the disbursement capacity will reach 1,028/3,400 billion VND, reaching a rate of 30.23% (including 789.183/1,500 billion VND of central budget capital and 238.817/1,900 billion VND of city budget capital) with the condition that the problem of receiving soil and mud must be resolved in November 2024.

Huynh

Source: https://tienphong.vn/kho-khan-bua-vay-du-an-cai-tao-tuyen-kenh-dai-nhat-tphcm-post1686946.tpo