Houses on Nguyen Van Bua Street were demolished to give way for Ring Road No.3, which will run 90 km, cost more than VND75.3 trillion (US$3.2 billion), and cross Ho Chi Minh City as well as Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Long An provinces.
Construction on the project was started in HCMC on Sunday.
Its first phase will stretch 76 km with four lanes and each locality will oversee clearing the site and building the section in their territory.
The part in HCMC runs 47 km through Thu Duc City and three outlying districts of Hoc Mon, Cu Chi and Binh Chanh.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc My, 56, and her family have hired workers to take down the front part of their houses to hand over 483 sq.m of land for the project.
Having settled here since 1976, My and her siblings inherited the land from their parents and her family was one of the first to hand over the site to the project.
Doan Cong Thuc, 61, My’s husband, dismantles a wall with a hammer on June 16.
Before the demolition, the couple leased the street-front house for a tenant to sell motorbikes.
“We are compensated more than VND35 million for each square meter, which is a reasonable price,” said Thuc.
He added that the local authorities have visited each affected family to talk about the project and how it will benefit everyone once it is completed.
Worker Nguyen Huu Ty, 57, gathers bricks and debris at a house he has just demolished.
Ty said on June 16 that he had worked for about 10 days and the clearance would be completed about 10 days after.
Debris is scattered after a house is taken down.
The total area of land that must be cleared for Ring Road No.3 is about 410 hectares, and more than 1,700 families are affected.
By June 16, 87% of the families had handed over the clear site for construction to start two days later.
Nguyen Tuan Kiet shields an area where his house has been dismantled to prevent people from coming in and out, especially the children, to avoid accidents.
A house which has had its front part taken down weeks ago.
The ring road's first phase is expected to be completed in 2026 to boost socioeconomic development for the southern region.
Once completed, the road will link with four other expressways: HCMC – Trung Luong that connects HCMC with the Mekong Delta; Ben Luc – Long Thanh, the longest expressway in the south that will link HCMC with Long Thanh and Dong Nai provinces; HCMC – Moc Bai, connecting the city with Cambodian border; and HCMC – Chon Thanh linking HCMC and Binh Duong.
