Series of projects in Ho Chi Minh City will be accelerated thanks to new approaches

Nguyen Khoi Bridge - Road, Ring Road 2, Moc Bai Expressway... are expected to be accelerated when applying a mechanism to shorten compensation and site clearance time.

After nearly a decade of "hanging", the Nguyen Khoi bridge-road project, connecting districts 7, 4 and 1, is expected to start construction at the end of this year and be completed in 2027, helping to reduce traffic pressure in South Saigon in the context of severely overloaded roads connecting this area.

Nguyen Khoi bridge and street across Te canal will connect districts 4 and 7. Photo: Quynh Tran

Eight years ago, when it was first approved, the project was about one kilometer long, starting from D1 Street in Him Lam Residential Area, District 7, ending at Ben Van Don Street, District 4, with a total investment of VND1,250 billion. Due to the change in scale with the extension to District 1, the project now has a total capital of VND3,725 billion, of which more than VND1,000 billion is compensation for about 125 households and organizations in District 4. For Districts 1 and 7, this project does not require site clearance.

Mr. Luong Minh Phuc, Director of the HCM City Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board (investor), said that the compensation plan for the project is being proposed to apply some mechanisms like Ring Road 3, with the separation of site clearance into an independent project, implemented in parallel with construction. In particular, some procedures related to compensation will be done simultaneously with the process of waiting for approval of the project's feasibility study.

In this way, the work of compensation, site clearance and relocation of technical infrastructure is expected to be implemented from next month, and will be basically completed by the end of the year, handing over to the project to start construction. "When completed, in addition to reducing traffic congestion in the area, the project will contribute to forming the North-South axis from the central area to District 7, Nha Be, connecting Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway, Ring Road 3, narrowing the geographical distance at the southern and western gateways of the city," said Mr. Phuc.

With the current process, after the investment project is approved by the competent authority, there will be a basis for placing stakes and handing over the land clearance boundary to the districts to conduct measurement, counting, preparing compensation records as well as determining the needs and forms of resettlement for affected people.

According to Mr. Phuc, the above stages are very complicated and time-consuming. Therefore, when implementing Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3, the Prime Minister allowed the application of a mechanism to simultaneously implement a number of tasks related to compensation, support, and resettlement from the project preparation stage. This helps speed up site clearance at the project, after only one year of the investment policy being approved, the districts have assigned more than 70% of the area for the project to start construction. From this model, the city plans to apply it to group A projects (with site clearance component projects) to speed up progress because it can shorten 1-1.5 years compared to the old process.

Workers planting stakes on Ring Road 3, 2022. Photo: Thanh Tung

In addition to Nguyen Khoi bridge and road, in the upcoming plan, Ho Chi Minh City plans to apply the above land clearance mechanism to two projects belonging to Ring Road 2 in Thu Duc City. These are the two remaining sections of the beltway in the east of the city that are not yet closed, with a total length of more than 6 km, from Phu Huu bridge to Pham Van Dong road, with a total capital of nearly 13,900 billion VND.

According to Mr. Vo Tri Dung, Head of the Compensation and Site Clearance Board of Thu Duc City, the land use demand for the implementation of the above two projects is estimated at more than 61.5 hectares with about 935 affected cases. The locality is focusing on collecting legal documents, measuring and counting the current status, waiting for approval of the site clearance boundary... After that, compensation will be carried out first for agricultural land or people with residential land who agree to hand over. The remaining cases are residential land, or people who are slow to agree to hand over will be done last. This is also a new way of doing things because in the usual way, compensation for agricultural land and residential land at the same time will take longer.

"The locality aims to hand over about 70% of the site by November 2024 for the investor to start the project. The remaining part is expected to be completed by 2025," said Mr. Dung.

Along with the above projects, some other key projects are also planned by Ho Chi Minh City to implement similar mechanisms, such as Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway, Ring Road 4... Recently, the City People's Committee requested the Ministry of Construction to guide the approval of site clearance boundaries before approving investment projects to carry out compensation, support and resettlement work in advance. According to the city government, determining the site clearance boundaries one step ahead will increase initiative and early implementation of site clearance-related work. Project preparation progress will therefore be faster.

Luong Dinh Cua Street, one of the routes being expanded, has not been completed for 9 years due to land clearance problems. Photo: Quynh Tran

Dr. Pham Viet Thuan, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Natural Resources and Environment Economics, said that site clearance is always a challenge for transport infrastructure projects. This work is very complicated because it affects many people, so the implementation process must go through many steps. Therefore, he said that when separating compensation work into component projects, implementing the steps in parallel will shorten the time. Pre-approval of site clearance boundaries is also a legal basis to help districts and investors proactively cross boundaries, set up markers in the field, inventory houses and land, resettle... This also helps to better prepare traffic organization plans later.

"In this way, when the project feasibility study is approved, the data and documents related to compensation will be basically completed, making it easier to carry out the next steps," said Mr. Thuan, adding that in addition to saving time, this is also a solution to limit capital increases related to price fluctuations and costs arising during the process of waiting for land.

Site clearance is currently considered the key point determining the progress of most projects in Ho Chi Minh City. However, recently, a series of projects have encountered difficulties, and many projects have even had to stop construction when the site was not cleared, increasing capital. Previously, many projects implemented in the 2016-2020 period but not yet completed had increased capital due to increased site clearance costs. Typically, the My Thuy intersection project, Thu Duc City (increased from VND 1,998 billion to VND 3,622 billion); the renovation of Hang Bang canal, from Mai Xuan Thuong street to Van Tuong canal, District 5 (from VND 188 billion to VND 779 billion)...

Gia Minh

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