Six new parks planned for HCMC

By Le Tuyet January 24, 2024 | 09:43 pm PT

Aerial view of the Saigon Safari park project in HCMC's Cu Chi District, April 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

The HCMC construction department has proposed six new parks covering 800 ha in Thu Duc City and districts 12, Cu Chi, Binh Tan and Binh Thanh.

The new parks would be composed largely of public land or empty land plots, according to a report sent by the HCMC Department of Transport to the municipal People’s Committee on the issue.

The largest of them would be Saigon Safari in Cu Chi District, spanning 485 ha and located around 50 km from the city center. The project would be part of the Cu Chi historical and cultural tourism site.

Relocation compensation for the project is already 97% complete.

Another park is an eco-garden site in Thu Thiem new urban area, spanning 128 ha. The main function of the site is an area for environmental protection and drainage, as well as for entertainment and accommodation. Most of the area of the site is a wetland ecosystem, with only three plots of land planned for structures for tourism and botanical studies.

Thu Thiem Square in Thu Duc, meanwhile, would span 20 ha. The park by the side of the Saigon River, from Ba Son Bridge to the tunnel of the river, has been opened with fields of sunflowers, an area for community activities, ports and other infrastructure.

Go Cat Park in Binh Tan District would cover 13 ha. The place used to be a landfill that had operations suspended over 10 years ago. Several units have recently called for the landfill to be relocated so that the area could become an eco-urban area.

Thanh Xuan Park in District 12 would span 150 ha, located between Thanh Xuan and Thoi An Wards, and would be planned as a multi-function park that provides entertainment and acts as a water basin for the area.

Another planned facility would belong to a park-sport complex in Binh Thanh District’s Ward 12, spanning 3.8 ha.

HCMC has around 400 parks and over 235,000 trees. The total area of parks in downtown districts is greater than those in suburban areas.

The total area of land planned for parks in the city amounts to over 11,400 ha, equating to around 7 m2 per person. But the actual total area of parks in the city amounts to only 500 ha. With a population of around 10 million, it means there is only around 0.55 m2 of parks for each person.

For the 2020-2025 period, HCMC plans to increase the area of land for public parks by 150 ha. To meet this goal, the city would need to carry out at least 54 projects, at a cost of over VND9 trillion ($366.4 million). However, only eight projects have either been completed or proposed for investment.