‘Suffering’ along ill-fated Saigon street

By Thanh Nguyen   June 6, 2017 | 12:27 am PT
Potholes, puddles, mud and dust await you on one of the city's most notorious streets.
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It's difficult to find a single flat meter of road along the 2-kilometer (1.4-mile) An Duong Vuong Street in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 8. “Drivers call it the "suffering’" road as vehicles have to move at a snail’s pace and break down all the time,” said bus driver Le Anh Nhut.

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The street has been in bad condition for nearly a decade now, locals said. “On rainy days, it is slippery and flooded; and on sunny days, it is muddy and covered in stagnant pools of water,” said Ngo Phong Tran, a street vendor.

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A pothole stretches 3 meters long and 2 meters wide on the street.

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Since the area near Phu Dinh Port became a hub for new construction projects, more and more trucks are using the street every day and destroying its surface, said Thien, a bus conductor.

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“It’s very difficult to do business on this street because it's dusty when the sun shines and flooded when it rains. We really need a drainage system to be installed,” said resident Nguyen Thanh Nghia.

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A drainage project for An Duong Vuong Street should be finished early next month, but many parts of the project, including concrete sewer pipes, are still lying out along the street.

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A woman struggles down the flooded street.

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A girl avoids puddles to cross the street.

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The street is flooded even when it’s not raining. Local authorities say they are aware of the situation, but without sewers it would be pointless upgrading the street. For now they are urging the contractor and investor of the street's water drainage project to speed up progress and finish it on schedule.

 
 
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