Recently, at the 19th session of the People's Council, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Vo Van Hoan presented to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council a proposal on adjusting the Tham Luong - Ben Cat - Rach Nuoc Len canal project.
The city proposed to adjust the total project cost from VND8,200 billion to VND9,030 billion. The reason for the adjustment is that the project has increased costs for compensation, support, resettlement, site clearance and relocation of technical infrastructure works.
The city also proposed adjusting the project implementation period from 2021-2025 to 2021-2026.
Construction began in February 2023 and all 10 construction packages of the project are currently under construction. According to Lao Dong on November 23, the project to renovate the longest canal in Ho Chi Minh City has reached about 40% of the work volume.
Since the project was implemented, the previously blocked residential road has greatly affected business and people's lives.
Mr. Nguyen Van Long (residing in Ward 14, Go Vap District) shared that since the project began construction, his family's business has not been favorable. In recent months, the construction site has rarely been seen, so he does not know when it will be completed. People hope the project will be completed soon so that business can be favorable.
In late October, the project encountered difficulties due to the lack of dumping sites for soil and mud from the canal dredging process. Initially, the planned sites for dumping soil and mud were in Binh Tan and Go Vap districts and the Da Phuoc waste treatment area in Binh Chanh district.
However, these locations have faced opposition from residents and management agencies, forcing construction units to temporarily store mud and soil right at the construction site. This not only hinders acceptance and capital disbursement but also slows down the implementation progress.
To solve this problem, the investor said that the mud from the project does not harm the environment and proposed to reuse it for other public works in the city.
The investor also proposed to transfer mud to other areas that need to be filled, to avoid wasting resources and meet project progress.
Land clearance work also faces many challenges. Some areas have completed land clearance, but there are still 21 cases of re-encroachment in Binh Thanh, Binh Tan, District 12, Go Vap and Binh Chanh districts.
The existence of these households hinders continuous construction, especially when it comes to ensuring the safety of technical infrastructure systems such as power lines, transformer stations and telecommunication cables.
The investor has proposed that the People's Committees of the districts quickly coordinate to reclaim the site, and at the same time called on the technical infrastructure management units to relocate and rearrange the underground power and cable systems to minimize construction interruptions.
