On the afternoon of February 26, Mr. Nguyen Van Bien - Deputy Head of the Investment Planning Department, Ho Chi Minh City Urban Infrastructure Construction Investment Project Management Board (the investor) said that so far the overall project has reached about 65% of the construction volume.
Currently, 35 km of canal roads out of a total of 64 km have been technically opened to traffic. The Project Management Board sets a target to complete the entire project in 2026.
Previously, on February 24, reporters recorded the reality at the construction site through the areas of An Nhon, Go Vap, An Hoi Dong, An Hoi Tay (former Go Vap district), Tan Son, Tan Binh (former Tan Binh district), Binh Hung Hoa, Binh Tan (former Binh Tan district), many sections had no workers working.
Machinery gathered in the command area and scattered along the route, many cranes on the barge stopped operating.
Regarding this situation, Mr. Nguyen Van Bien said that after the Lunar New Year 2026, the Board has worked with each contractor of 10 main construction packages to urge progress.
Contractors committed to focusing machinery and materials, organizing simultaneous construction in many directions, ensuring the signed time milestones.
Representatives of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction said that to ensure progress, the Department regularly presides over and coordinates with relevant departments and branches to review the implementation situation, inspect the site and promptly remove difficulties according to the recommendations of the Project Management Board.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction also requested the investor to develop detailed progress for each item according to the Gantt diagram, and send it to relevant departments, branches, wards, and communes for coordination and monitoring.
On that basis, the Board must review and assess the reality compared to the set progress (right, slow or exceeded), clarify the causes and responsibilities of each unit, thereby proposing solutions for the Department to summarize and propose to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee for consideration and direction.
The project to improve the environment and build infrastructure along the Tham Luong - Ben Cat - Rach Nuoc Len canal was started in February 2023, with a total initial investment of 8,200 billion VND, after adjusting to more than 9,000 billion VND.
The canal is nearly 32 km long, passing through many localities in the West and Northwest of the city. The project includes building concrete embankments on both banks, dredging the canal bed; building a road along the canal 8 - 12 m wide; installing drainage, lighting, and green trees; building 19 drainage culverts, 12 wharves and 3 connecting bridges.
According to the initial plan, the project was expected to be completed on April 30, 2025. However, the project was delayed and the implementation time was adjusted to 2026.
The project has a total of 40 bidding packages, of which 10 are main construction packages with 69 contractors participating in the form of a joint venture. Although the contractor force is large and the construction scale is large, the overall progress to date has not met expectations.
