Waking dead: Skyscrapers to break ground in Saigon’s biggest cemetery

Ho Chi Minh City has approved a plan to develop seven new residential areas in Binh Tan District, one of which will be built on the largest graveyard in the city, Binh Hung Hoa.

The 40-hectare (100-acre) graveyard will lose its current occupants to make way for high-rise buildings, parks and public works, according to local media reports.

The city made the decision to clear the cemetery in 2008, but work to remove the 75,000 graves only started in 2016, when relatives were given until October 31 this year to relocate their loved ones.

The initial plan was to remove 16,500 graves this year, but by late May, 3,500 graves had been left untouched as no one had claimed them.

Binh Tan will exhume the bodies and cremate them if the families do not come forward, and no compensation will be paid.