In 2000, the canal that flows two kilometers through Districts 5 and 6 was filled up following heavy pollution and serious encroachment. By then, the canal spread only two kilometers wide with blackish and stinky water.
To continue its drainage function, a concrete box culvert was installed.
Fifteen years later, the city decided to recover the canal with a three-phase project that cost VND2 trillion ($86.2 million) to build a drainage system and relocate affected households.
The project was to complete in 2020 but got delayed.
In 2020, a section 200 meters long and 14-16 meters wide in District 6 was revived, with the two banks turned into a park.
At a section meeting Lo Gom Canal in District 6, work has been deployed to establish a water pumping station.
To revive the canal, more than 24,000 cubic meters of soil and rock has been dug up.
Around one kilometer away, a section 100 meters long between Chu Van An and Ngo Nhan Tinh streets of the canal has returned to life.
Along the two sides of the sections are sidewalks 10 meters wide. Each sidewalk is highlighted with a lawn and trees.
Vu, 51, runs for exercise by the canal on Tuesday afternoon. He said previously when the canal had yet to be recovered, he had to drive his motorbike to a park more than two kilometers away from his home to exercise.
The second phase of the project is under implementation to upgrade a section 750 meters long from Mai Xuan Thuong Street in District 6 to Van Tuong Canal in District 5.
To carry out this phase, more than 470 households must be relocated at a compensation cost of VND1.2 trillion. Nguyen Vinh Ninh, deputy director of the Transportation Works Construction Investment Project Management Board of Ho Chi Minh City, the project investor, said it has yet to receive enough empty land to carry out the project, and that the contractor has only completed work along half of the section.
For the third phase of the project, houses along a section 700 meters long from Binh Tien to Pham Dinh Ho streets must be cleared. The investor said delays in site clearance, in addition to affecting project progress, also incurs costs and it has asked the local authorities to accelerate the process.
