A section of the canal system in Binh Hung Hoa B Ward in Binh Tan District.
Work to improve the infrastructure and environment along the canal was launched in 2016 at a cost of VND8.2 trillion (US$347.16 million).
It is divided into two phases, dredging and building concrete embankments and roads along it.
These days, many parts of the canal have been turned into a landfill.
Tham Luong - Ben Cat - Nuoc Len flows nearly 33 km through seven districts: 12, Binh Tan, Tan Phu, Tan Binh, Go Vap, Binh Thanh and Binh Chanh.
Doan Thi Phuong Linh, 50, who lives in a hut on the canal bank in Go Vap District and grows bonsai trees for a living, says the water was clean and people came to release fish in it when she was a young girl.
Over time it kept getting more and more polluted, she says.
She used to live in another place on the bank but moved recently because she could not stand the odor there. Authorities have told her to move away since they plan to build the embankment, but she says she will continue to live there for now.
The second phase of the project will start this month and is scheduled for completion in 2025.
Dinh Van Minh Tam of Go Vap District runs a restaurant by the canal, but finds it hard to get customers because of the unpleasant smell of the water.
Most of his customers buy online.
A boat docked in the canal in Binh Chanh District.
The second phase will also see the construction of 12 docks to boost inland waterway transport between the city and the Mekong Delta, the nation's agricultural hub, and the southeast, home to a large number of industrial complexes.
