HCMC cuts down 100 trees to widen airport road

By Gia Minh May 5, 2024 | 07:28 pm PT

Nearly 100 trees have been cut down to widen Hoang Hoa Tham Street in HCMC’s Tan Binh District to reduce congestion en route to Tan Son Nhat airport.

The trees along the street between Cong Hoa Street to the airport have been chopped down.

Most were large monkey pod and Khaya trees 20-30 m tall and with a diameter of around one meter.

The wood could be seen stacked along the road in recent days awaiting transport.

Trees are cut into parts for removal to give space for a project to enlarge Hoang Hoa Tham Street in Tan Binh District of Ho Chi Minh City, May 4, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Gia Minh

The Transportation Works Construction Investment Project Management Authority of HCMC said the trees had to be cut down since they were old and huge and transplanting them elsewhere would have been difficult and costly.

Once the widening is completed, new trees would be planted along the road, it added.

An 800-meter section is set to be widened by 8-10 m to a total of 22 m at a cost of VND300 billion (US$11.9 million).

The work was approved eight years ago but construction has been delayed until now by land acquisition issues. It is expected to be completed by the end of this year along with a new road that is under construction between Tran Quoc Hoan and Cong Hoa streets, where the airport’s entrances are.

Once completed, the widened Hoang Hoa Tham and the new road will lead to the airport’s T3 terminal, which is also under construction.

Tan Son Nhat is Vietnam's biggest and busiest airport with an average of 60,000-70,000 passengers per day.

Last year it served 40.7 million passengers as against a designed capacity of 28 million and representing a 18.85% increase from 2022.

HCMC is currently undertaking multiple key infrastructure and transportation projects, and a large number of trees have to be cleared.

They include more than 400 trees on several streets in Districts 1, 3, 10, Tan Binh, and Tan Phu, which will be chopped down or relocated to make way for metro line No.2, and 200 on Vo Nguyen Giap Street in Thu Duc City to build bus stations and other infrastructure for the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line, line No.1, which is set to begin commercial operation in July.