Downtown HCMC's most beautiful canal infested with 100 tons of trash

A 30-meter segment of the canal in Tan Binh District, with thick black water, was filled with trash of various kinds and even carcasses of animals on Saturday.

Mai Huong, 45, said the trash used to be collected every day, but the last time was a month ago.

"In peak sunny periods, the stench coming from the canal every noon is truly displeasing," Huong said.

A representative of the local canal trash collection team, from the HCMC Urban Environment company, said the managing unit has not signed new contracts with the HCMC Management Center of Waterway System, so the trash has not been collected since mid-February.

The representative said the old contract expired in December and the team continued to work without a contract before having to stop due to a lack of funds. Normally, the team has to collect over 10 tons of trash a day to prevent pollution in the canal.

"The amount of trash here has amounted to over 100 tons. If there is a new contract, it would take us around half a month to deal with it," he said.

The Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal, spanning 10 km over districts 1, 3, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan and Tan Binh, runs towards the Saigon River. Following a renovation project over 10 years ago, the canal was generally considered to be the most beautiful in downtown HCMC.