Nearly 7,000 households affected by land acquisition
The Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai Expressway Project Phase 1 is nearly 51km long, with a total capital of more than VND 19,600 billion, implemented under the BOT form. The section through Ho Chi Minh City is 24.7km long, affecting about 220 hectares of land in 11 communes of Cu Chi district, involving 2,177 households and organizations.
Component 3 project (compensation, support and resettlement) has just been approved by the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City with more than 5.052 billion dong, of which more than 4,333 billion dong for compensation. The plan of payment and handover takes place from the third quarter to the fourth quarter/2025. It is expected that, on September 2, 2025, starting the collection and overpasses, in January 2026, the main expressway was started, completed at the end of 2027.
Four other BOT transport projects including National Highway 1, 13, 22 and the North - South axis road need to reclaim land from 4,730 households, of which 2,452 households were cleared.
The project to expand National Highway 1 (from Kinh Duong Vuong to Long An border) through Binh Tan and Binh Chanh has a total capital of VND 16,285 billion, of which VND 9,611 billion is for compensation. The project affects 2,241 households (1,822 households are cleared).
The National Highway 13 expansion project (from Binh Trieu Bridge to Binh Duong border) has a total investment of VND 20,900 billion, more than VND 14,619 billion spent on compensation. The project affects 1,091 households, of which 238 households are cleared.
National Highway 22 (from An Suong intersection to Ring Road 3) passes through Hoc Mon and District 12, with a total capital of more than VND 10,451 billion, with VND 6,234 billion for compensation and resettlement. The project needs to reclaim land from 1,362 households, of which 392 households were cleared.
The North-South axis road upgrade project (Nguyen Huu Tho), from Nguyen Van Linh to Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway, has a total investment of about VND9,894 billion, affecting 36 households. The cost of site clearance and infrastructure relocation is about 1,426 billion VND.
Accelerating the implementation of land acquisition procedures
The total budget for compensation, support and resettlement of the above 5 projects is up to nearly 40,000 billion VND. This is a very large number, requiring Ho Chi Minh City to mobilize maximum resources, closely coordinate between departments and localities to ensure progress.
According to Mr. Vo Trung Truc - Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City - if the determination of boundaries, approval of plans and implementation of land acquisition are not completed before July 1, 2025, the projects will face legal difficulties due to no longer being at the district level.
Currently, Cu Chi district is required to speed up the progress of the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai expressway project, setting a target of compensation payment in June. Other localities are also urgently reviewing boundaries, announcing planning and issuing related decisions to implement land recovery.
According to Mr. Vo Trung Truc, one of the urgent issues posed is the land fund and apartment for resettlement. The localities and Thu Duc City need to review and report in detail the situation, propose the use plan or build a new resettlement area if the existing source is not enough to meet. The coordination between the Department of Finance, the Department of Construction and related units will play a key role in the coming period.
According to Dr. Pham Viet Thuan - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Natural Resources and Environment Economics - one of the reasons why many transport projects are behind schedule and over budget is due to site clearance not being done well from the beginning. In reality, when compensation is prolonged, land prices change, causing investment costs to increase significantly.
Mr. Thuan said that it is necessary to separate the compensation and resettlement part into an independent project to implement early, preparing the site for construction later. This will help shorten the overall implementation time and limit capital arising issues.
