The road along the canal is relatively clean, but under the water surface there is still a huge amount of mud accumulated for many years under the canal bed.
People are happy because there are beautiful roads and beautiful parks, but still cannot be satisfied when the canal has not really been revived.
The biggest bottleneck currently is not dredging techniques but the cost problem and the place to receive sludge.
According to previous calculations, just dredging about 3.22 million m3 of mud already requires nearly 300 billion VND from the budget. That does not include transportation and treatment costs that may increase due to fluctuations in fuel prices and freight rates.
It is worth mentioning that despite having money, the project still faces difficulties because it has not found a place to receive this huge volume of mud.
Therefore, the proposal of businesses to self-fund dredging, transporting, treating mud and investing in storage yards is a direction worth seriously considering.
If businesses do it, the budget can save large expenses, while dredging work has the opportunity to be implemented faster.
Businesses have the opportunity to recall legal products from the dredging process according to regulations. The State saves budget, and the bottleneck project is removed.
In fact, many localities across the country have applied socialization for dredging channels, rivers, reservoirs or recovering materials during project renovation.
The core issue is not whether the State or businesses implement it, but how to implement it to ensure publicity, transparency and compliance with the law.
The volume of mud, material composition, recovery value, financial obligations to the State, transportation, environmental treatment, and discharge location must all be controlled by transparent procedures.
We cannot let the right policy become a loophole for profiteering, but we should also not ignore a solution that can bring great benefits to the community out of fear of risks.
Tham Luong - Ben Cat canal is one of the largest environmental renovation projects in the city, every day of slow dredging means that people continue to live with pollution every day.
When businesses propose handling plans, find places to receive mud and fully fulfill financial obligations, functional agencies need to consider and evaluate feasibility, capacity, and organize public and transparent selection according to regulations for early implementation.
If ensuring compliance with legal regulations, publicity and transparency, there is no reason to delay.
In addition to saving budget, the completed project also creates a better living environment for millions of city residents.
