Phu Dinh floodgate, as part of the major antiflood project, is under construction. Work on the project will fall behind schedule if delays in handing over cleared sites persist

In District 4, two organizations affected by the project have agreed in writing to hand over their sites. However, the HCMC-based developer Trung Nam has yet to transfer money to them, so the district authority has not been able to issue an official compensation decision.

Similarly, 13 households in the outlying district of Binh Chanh have not handed over their land yet since the developer has still not sent any compensation funds to the local authority.

Three out of four tidal control sewers in District 7 have already been handed over, and the last one, the Phu Xuan sluice gate, affecting six households, is being hampered by legal procedures.

There are still 15 unresolved site clearance cases in District 8. Having reviewed the files, local authorities found that five plots are actually categorized as residential land rather than agricultural land as claimed.

Therefore, the district government has asked the HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment for feedback to set compensation prices. If the guidance is available next month, the district will adopt a suitable compensation policy for land handover.

Land handover in districts 7 and 8 are at high risk of delays due to legal bottlenecks.

Speaking at a meeting on the issue, the city’s vice chairman, Tran Vinh Tuyen, suggested the districts that have not yet completed their site handover process should take back land and simultaneously adopt policies for the affected residents.

“The construction work is important and must not be delayed,” he said.

Nguyen Tam Tien, general director of Trung Nam Group, said that the progress of the antiflood project is greatly dependent on land being handed over on time. If this falls behind schedule, overall progress would be impeded.

He said that if the HCMC government meets the deadline for site handover, the project might be completed by late 2019 or early next year.

The first phase of the antiflood project, which takes climate change into account, started on June 2016. It aims to improve the urban infrastructure landscape and livelihoods of some 6.5 million residents on a 570-square-kilometer stretch of land near the Saigon River.

To make room for the project covering 100 hectares of land, some 1,400 residents in districts 1, 4, 7 and 8, as well as the suburban districts of Binh Chanh and Nha Be, have been forced to relocate. SGT

Le Anh

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