The biggest bottleneck that has caused a series of key projects to stagnate for many years

Many projects are stalled due to site clearance

Typically, the project to expand Hanoi Highway and National Highway 1 (section from Saigon Bridge to Tan Van intersection) is 15.7km long, started in April 2010 in BOT form, with a scale of 12-16 lanes. To date, the section from Saigon Bridge to Tram 2 intersection is basically completed, contributing to reducing congestion in the East, but the remaining section from Tram 2 to Tan Van, especially 2.2km from Tan Van to the new Mien Dong Bus Station, has been "stalled" for many years.

The main reason is the slow compensation and site clearance work. Out of a total of 201 affected households (about 17ha), only 55 households have been paid, most of the remaining area has not been handed over, causing the project to be temporarily suspended. The consequence is that the road has become a "bottleneck", the road surface is degraded, and traffic is often congested.

The Luong Dinh Cua road upgrade project (2.5km, capital of 826 billion VND) started in 2015 but has not been completed yet. The section of more than 500m from Nguyen Hoang road to An Phu intersection has become a "bottleneck" due to being entangled in a land area of more than 2.2ha overlapping with An Phu urban area, and compensation has not been agreed upon; this land is also located in the An Phu intersection project of more than 3,400 billion VND.

The Pham Van Bach road expansion project was approved in 2005, the initial capital was more than 273 billion VND, after adjusting to increase to about 680 billion VND but has not been completed due to 56 households still facing land handover issues. Projects such as My Thuy intersection, National Highway 50 expansion... are also continuously delayed due to similar problems.

Pressure from new transportation projects

In the coming period, the pressure of site clearance will be even greater as Ho Chi Minh City implements many large-scale projects. From now to 2030, the city will implement 6 metro lines including: Metro line No. 2 (Ben Thanh - Tham Luong), Metro line No. 2 (Ben Thanh - Thu Thiem), Thu Thiem - Long Thanh line, Binh Duong New City - Suoi Tien line, phase 1 Metro line No. 6 (Tan Son Nhat - Phu Huu) and Ben Thanh - Can Gio line.

Besides, there are key national and inter-regional projects such as the North-South high-speed railway, Ring Road 4, and large bridges such as Phu My 2 bridge, Can Gio bridge, Cat Lai bridge, Thu Thiem 4 bridge... Notably, Metro Line No. 2 (Ben Thanh - Tham Luong) took 5 years (2020-2025) to clear more than 251,000m2 of land, affecting 585 households and organizations.

Proposal for a "doing it first" mechanism

To remove the "bottleneck", the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Agriculture and Environment is developing a draft resolution to improve the compensation and site clearance process in a more proactive and flexible direction.

Currently, surveying, measuring, and inventorying are only carried out after land acquisition notices are issued; the time from notification to acquisition decision may last 60-120 days, causing the progress of many large projects to be delayed.

Ho Chi Minh City proposes to allow the prior implementation of some preparation steps when the project has not been approved to shorten the implementation time. After the project list is approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, within 15 days, the investor must hand over the project boundary in the field to the local government and the compensation work unit. In the next 10 days, the commune-level People's Committee will notify each household about the investigation, survey, measurement, and inventory.

Within 60 days from the date of issuance of the notice, the locality will complete the determination of the origin, legal status of land and attached assets to develop a compensation and resettlement plan. In case the project boundary changes, it will be reviewed and adjusted within 30 days, ensuring a basis for land recovery.