Greening project of the most polluted canal in Ho Chi Minh City to start in August 2024

On October 24, the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Infrastructure Construction Investment Project Management Board held a meeting to inform the progress of the Xuyen Tam Canal dredging, environmental improvement, and infrastructure construction project.

This project has just been approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, with an investment of more than VND 9,600 billion, to be implemented in the period 2023-2028.

This is a key project of Ho Chi Minh City, contributing to urban beautification, improving the living environment for residents living along the canals, enhancing flood prevention, completing technical infrastructure, ensuring inland waterway traffic functions, and serving the city's tourism development.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Anh Dung - Deputy Head of Ho Chi Minh City Urban Infrastructure Project Management Board informed about the project of dredging and renovating Xuyen Tam canal.

According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Anh Dung - Deputy Head of the Urban Infrastructure Project Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City, Xuyen Tam Canal is one of the most heavily polluted areas in the city. For the past two decades, people have had to live in makeshift, dilapidated houses along both sides of the heavily polluted canal, affecting their lives and health.

Since 2002, the city has initiated the project, but for many objective reasons, the project has not been able to be implemented as expected.

"To resolve the above situation, the City People's Committee assigned the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Infrastructure Investment Project Management Board to be the investor. After the project was officially approved and the environmental protection contents were approved, the Board is implementing the next steps to ensure timely progress," Mr. Dung informed.

It is expected that the construction package will start in August 2024 in Go Vap district and will be completed in April 2025. Particularly in Binh Thanh district, the construction package is expected to start in April 2025 and be completed in April 2028.

The Xuyen Tam canal project, once completed, will contribute to urban beautification and improve the living environment for people in Binh Thanh and Go Vap districts.

To implement this project, the city must reclaim about 159,000 square meters of land, with 1,880 affected cases in Go Vap and Binh Thanh districts. Currently, the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Infrastructure Project Management Board has signed a contract to advance funds and hand over the project boundary to Go Vap and Binh Thanh districts so that the two localities can conduct surveys and prepare compensation and site clearance plans for households.

According to Mr. Dung, of the two localities affected by the project, Binh Thanh district has a very large number of households subject to clearance.

About 1,107/1,796 households and organizations must be completely cleared. Of these, 909 cases are eligible for resettlement, 198 households are not eligible for resettlement because their houses were completely built on the canal.

Currently, Binh Thanh District authorities have arranged resettlement for 300 apartments, including 258 apartments and 42 plots of land; there are still about 807 cases that need resettlement and are being calculated by the City People's Committee and relevant departments.

Makeshift, dilapidated houses on both sides of Xuyen Tam canal, through Binh Thanh district.

"This is a project that the city government is very interested in and people have been waiting for for many years. The city's viewpoint through meetings is how to have the best policies for people when implementing land acquisition, resettlement... so that people have a new place to live that is equal to or better than the old place. Currently, the City People's Committee has assigned 2 localities to calculate the compensation plan for land acquisition, and issue unit prices," Mr. Dung informed.

To ensure the project is on schedule, according to Mr. Dung, the investor will also ask the City People's Committee to apply a special mechanism like Ring Road 3 in compensation and site clearance, including a plan to arrange temporary housing funds for people while waiting for resettlement land and housing.

The project to dredge, improve the environment, and build infrastructure for Xuyen Tam canal from Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal to Vam Thuat river mouth has a total length of more than 8.8km, with a total investment of more than VND 9,600 billion, and will be implemented from 2023-2028.

Construction scale of embankment line to protect the bank with prestressed reinforced concrete sheet piles; Dredging the canal bed to the bottom elevation of 3.5m deep; canal width from 20-30m.

Along with that, the city also builds a wastewater drainage system with a diameter of D300- D1,200; builds a rainwater drainage system, traffic roads along both sides of the canal with a scale of 2 lanes/each side has a width of 6m, builds parks, green areas; lighting and technical trenches.

The image of the most polluted canal in Ho Chi Minh City has changed after spending 9,600 billion VND on renovation . The Xuyen Tam canal renovation project with a total investment of more than 9,600 billion VND will be implemented in the period of 2023-2028, after two decades of severe pollution.

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