In one case, for example, the entire legal status of a project developed by Sunshine Group in Phu Thuan ward (HCMC) was "frozen" for numerous years. During the 2018–2025 phase, the price appraisal unit submitted valuation certificates 10 times, yet authorities still failed to determine the land price and financial obligations. Consequently, thousands of housing products faced the risk of being unable to deploy.

Following a long period of stagnation, in 2025, HCMC municipal leaders met with the developer multiple times and figured out an untangling solution for the project. 

By the end of 2025, the project determined its financial obligations, and the enterprise paid more than VND2,300 billion in land use fees to the state budget, said Tran Anh Quan, general director of Sunshine Saigon.

Quan spoke at the conference on “Resolving Difficulties and Snags for Long-delayed, Backlogged Works and Projects”.

Numerous difficult and snag-ridden works and projects across HCMC have been resolved recently.

A project by Mercedes-Benz Vietnam Company was cleared of legal snags by HCMC authorities regarding the lease extension of over 100,000 square meters of public land whose use duration had expired. Following the resolution, the project was granted an operational duration extension until 2030.

It is estimated that HCMC has untangled or issued directional handling for 838 out of 838 projects subject to processing under the PM’s Official Dispatch No112/2024. 

The achieved rate stands at 100 percent, leading the country. The untangling process has helped unblock more than VND206,000 billion in investment capital and nearly 17,000 hectares of land to be put into deployment and operation.

Of this, 417 out of 838 projects (49.7 percent) have been resolved in terms of legal status, compensation and site clearance, or have undergone land handover, permitting developers to restart construction and hand over for operation and social exploitation. The remaining 421 out of 838 projects already had resolution directions and continue to be processed.

Le Hoang Chau, chair of the HCMC Real Estate Association (HoREA), said legal institutions have step-by-step been untangled for backlogged projects and works. Clearing this bottleneck will generate momentum for development. Investors will be willing to shell out larger capital sums to restart projects and works, contributing to the city's double-digit growth goal.

Decoupling individual misconduct

In addition, to serve management, tracking, and governance operations, HCMC has also constructed and put into operation the Database System for Long-delayed and Backlogged Works and Projects (System 45). 

This system integrates data, tracks the processing progress of each project, and concurrently receives feedback from enterprises and investors during the implementation process of conclusions and bottleneck-removing options.

In the coming time, the city will complete statistical compilation, classification, and approval of a list of works and projects facing difficulties and snags, and bring System 45 into operation.

HCMC Vice Mayor Tran Van Bay said that the enforcement spirit will decouple the responsibilities of individuals and organizations from the execution of untangling difficulties and snags for projects. In other words, humans commit violations, but works and projects do not.

“In the past, whenever competent authorities intervened, works and projects would stop entirely. However, works and projects bear no fault, so they must be untangled and continue to be implemented to combat waste. Whoever commits violations will be determined and handled by investigative agencies,” he explained.

Recently, the HCMC Inspectorate announced inspection and examination decisions for 100 long-delayed projects facing snags in order to advise the city People's Committee on resolutions to unblock resources.

Bay argued that the inspection force is not "nitpicking" but finding out the right and wrong aspects of projects to apply appropriate untangling mechanisms, helping projects continue implementation instead of revoking them.

“In a project, the fault may lie with a government agency or may result from a combination of mistakes by multiple parties. In the interest of fairness and good governance, businesses cannot be forced to bear the cost of government mistakes. If the State makes a mistake, there must be a mechanism to address it. Developers and businesses need to understand this principle,” he said.

At the conference, HCMC Mayor Nguyen Van Duoc stated that the city has largely completed the process of removing what he described as the economy's “blood clots”, i.e long-stalled projects and developments.

Tran Chung