Many generations are waiting for the project
Nestled in a small alley on Luong Dinh Cua Street (old Thu Duc City), there are about a dozen households living on a plot of land with planning belonging to the Thu Thiem railway station project. It is also for this reason that for more than 20 years, many households here have not been able to repair their houses, divide plots or sell them to anyone.
"Looking at the outside, I see that the house is very old, but there is nothing more to do. Every time my family plans to repair something, I have to go up and down the ward many times to complete the procedures. Gradually I neglected it and didn't want to fix it anymore" - Mr. An said while helping his wife clean up the tables and chairs.
The family of Mr. Tran Hoai An (Binh Trung ward, Ho Chi Minh City) has lived on this land for nearly 60 years, the house is designed in the traditional three-room style, many places have degraded, and iron pillars have to be used for additional support. Every rainy season, water flooded into the house.
"We have been waiting for this project for a long time, just hearing that information and not knowing when to start. Hearing about the planning since my parents were alive, now that their grandparents have passed away, the project has not been implemented yet" - Mr. An said.
In recent days, when information about Ho Chi Minh City preparing to reclaim land and build a resettlement area to build a high-speed railway North - South has been discussed, the whole neighborhood where Mr. An lives is in disarray.
Mr. T.H.N (54 years old, Binh Trung ward, Ho Chi Minh City) although he passed away from joy when hearing the news about a new project, his eyes were still filled with hope, hoping that his children and grandchildren would enjoy the best.
"Now that the project is implemented, I just like to have fun for my children and grandchildren, not feel as excited as when I was young. I just hope to have a compensation plan soon so that we can stabilize our lives" - Mr. N shared.
Many households here are in a similar mood. They have lived in makeshift houses for too long, not daring to invest in repairs. Many people also jokingly call this a "hanging neighborhood", because everything stops behind them. No one dares to plan long-term for life, if the house is dilapidated, they temporarily patch it up, and when their children grow up, they do not know whether they will stick around or leave.
New signal for the project
According to the plan, Thu Thiem station, over 17 hectares wide, will serve three major railway lines: the North - South high-speed railway, the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway and Metro Line 2 phase 2 (Ben Thanh - Thu Thiem).
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has recently issued a plan to implement compensation, support and resettlement to serve the North-South high-speed railway project and exploit land in the vicinity of stations and depots.
The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has conducted a preliminary review, determining that the North-South high-speed railway project will affect about 200 houses.
Of which, 106 cases are arranged with apartments, expected in Linh Trung apartment building; the remaining 94 cases need to be arranged with resettlement land, expected in Long Binh - Long Thanh My area (sub-zone 2, phase 2) with an area of about 10.5 hectares, with a scale of 205 plots. This land has been cleared and has a detailed 1/500 plan for the Long Buu resettlement area (phase 2).
The total preliminary budget for compensation, support and resettlement for the section passing through Ho Chi Minh City is estimated at about 2,575 billion VND, of which compensation costs account for about 2,114 billion VND.
Ho Chi Minh City aims to complete the approval of the resettlement area construction investment project before August 19, 2025 and complete the construction in the second quarter of 2026.
At the same time, the compensation, support and resettlement project will be approved in October 2025, ensuring the progress of handing over the site to the construction unit in December 2026.
