A series of public land plots are "covering"
Recently, the Department of Construction of Can Tho City proposed that the City People's Committee consider relocating Can Tho Stadium and the Sports Center to Sub-zone 17 - sub-regional urban health, education, culture and sports (O Mon cu) to maximize the land area with very high commercial value in Cai Khe Ward.
However, this proposal immediately caused much controversy, raising concerns about the risk of further waste of public assets.
Dr. Tran Huu Hiep - Vice President of the Mekong Delta Tourism Association - said that there is not a complete assessment of transportation, connecting infrastructure, economic efficiency or people's needs when moving the project to a location 20km from the center. If not carefully calculated, the new stadium could become a "concrete islet".
Reporters' records show that at the Cai Khe roundabout land - considered the busiest commercial center in Can Tho, thousands of square meters of land have been abandoned for many years.
Many other public land plots in the area also have similar problems, not only causing loss of urban beauty but also losing the value of State assets.
At the Can Tho Water Paradise Project (formerly Can Tho Water Park), the area is nearly 4.6 hectares wide, with a total investment of 1,280 billion VND, including a water park, resort, recovery hotel and high-end shopping area. Construction started in May 2019, but the project is still abandoned and not implemented, causing waste of resources and reducing opportunities for local tourism development.
Faced with this situation, the People's Committee of Can Tho City (old) has issued a Decision to auction 18 public land plots in 2025, with a total area of nearly 50 hectares with the expectation of collecting more than VND 3,100 billion.
Land barriers hinder regional development momentum
The situation of public land being left vacant for a long time is further aggravated when Can Tho city has difficulty attracting investors. According to the assessment of the Can Tho City Institute of Economics and Social Affairs, the reason lies in barriers in land access.
The Project of Surveying and Assessing the Land Accessibility of Enterprises has conducted a field survey in 9 districts in Can Tho in the period of 2015 - 2024, to assess the current situation and propose solutions.
Associate Professor, Dr. Phan Trung Hien - Head of the Faculty of Law, Can Tho University - said that the rate of enterprises having to delay or cancel business plans due to land problems increased from 22,2% (2021) to 75% (2024). Some businesses even have to pay outside costs to speed up the processing of documents.
At the meeting on the results of the Project to survey and evaluate the ability of businesses to access land and propose solutions to improve to attract investment in Can Tho city, held on November 19, Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee Nguyen Van Khoi admitted that the city's land bottlenecks are very large, the difficulties and shortcomings need to be clarified to contribute to the city's leaders in directing and operating in the coming time.
