Just rented and rushed to return the premises
At noon on November 7, Mr. Le Chi Thanh (who sells groceries on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) sat leisurely in front of his store reading the newspaper. Mr. Thanh said that this has been his daily "time-killing" job for the past few years because the number of customers has decreased sharply, and he is no longer "always busy" selling to customers like before.
According to Mr. Thanh, because his grocery store is located right on a one-way street (the intersection with Bach Dang Street towards Dai Liet Si 5-way intersection), and traffic jams often occur during rush hour, business is very difficult.
"This street is most congested from 11am to 1pm, from 4pm to 7pm, every day. Because I've been selling here for more than ten years, I try to stay because I still have regular customers. The hardest part is for those who just moved here to rent, after 3 months, half a year they have to close because of the traffic jam," said Mr. Thanh.
According to some businesses on this route, traffic jams in the area have only become serious in the past 5 years. When congested, the business and trading of the shops on the left side of the road seem to be "frozen", because customers have difficulty accessing them because they are located on the side of the lane with long lines of cars.
It is known that the amount of vehicles pouring into this route, in addition to the three main directions of Xo Viet Nghe Tinh (on the two-way section), Dien Bien Phu and Bach Dang streets, also has a large amount of vehicles circulating on branch roads such as D5 street, alley 405 (connecting Dinh Bo Linh street to Xo Viet Nghe Tinh street),... thus pushing the traffic jam on this route to an alarming level.
According to Lao Dong reporters, although located on the same street, the rental price of each side is different.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hien (a merchant on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street) said that the rental price of premises on the right side of Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street ranges from 12-20 million VND/month. Meanwhile, on the left side, premises of the same area are only about 5-6 million VND/month but few people rent them.
"People don't dare rent at that price because they're afraid of traffic jams and not being able to do business. Last month, the shop across from mine also paid for it because it had been rented for 4 months and had no customers," said Ms. Hien.
The project to relieve traffic jams on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh street is about to "press the button"
According to the report of the Department of Transport of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Thanh District regularly records traffic jams at 3 locations: Xo Viet Nghe Tinh (from Bach Dang to Dai Liet Si 5-way intersection); Hang Xanh traffic intersection; Dinh Bo Linh intersection. These are the locations assessed to have the most serious traffic jams in Ho Chi Minh City.
Of which, Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street (from Bach Dang to Dai Liet Si Intersection) recorded 615 traffic jams in the first 9 months of 2024; Dinh Bo Linh intersection ranked second with 588 traffic jams; Hang Xanh intersection was 161 times.
Faced with traffic congestion, the Department of Transport has proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee include the Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street expansion project in the list of key transport projects that need to be prioritized for implementation in the 2024-2030 period.
The project to expand Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street (from Hang Xanh intersection to Binh Trieu Bridge) 2 km long will be expanded from 16-22 m to 30-40 m, with a total investment of about 7,000 billion VND, of which the cost of site clearance and relocation of technical infrastructure accounts for about 4,500 billion VND.
The project also includes the construction of the Martyrs' Monument interchange with a roundabout and underpass option, helping to improve traffic in this area.
A representative of the Department of Transport said that if approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, this project will start investment preparation steps in the 2024-2025 period, expected to be completed before 2030.
