The Ho Chi Minh City's Department of Construction said that its plan to remove 20,000 shanty houses on and along local canals by 2020 may not be realised due to various challenges.

There are about 20,000 substandard shanty houses along the city's canals, and they pose a threat to the people living there and cause pollution along the waterways

According to the department, the plan to clean up canals was announced in 2015 with different projects using different sources of capital. But until now, 13 projects which were assigned to use the city's budget haven't started yet.

Only two out of six projects to be carried out by public-private partnerships have been assigned but unable to kick off due to poor capacity on the part of the private sector partner.

Meanwhile, the removing of residents at some canals including Doi, Hang Bang and Xuyen Tam are facing difficulties due to a shortage of resettlement houses, the department said.

To solve the problems, the department suggests that the city needs to have proper policies for site clearance compensation to encourage residents to move. The city also needs to build 11,000 social houses and an additional of 38,500 commercial houses and land lots for resettlement. At present, no plan has been announced on where the residents would be relocated.

According to a report from the HCM City People's Committee, there are about 20,000 substandard shanty houses along the city's canals, and they pose a threat to the people living there and cause pollution along the waterways.

The city has succeeded in bringing the dirty Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal back to life after around a decade. More than USD390 million, including funding from the World Bank, has been used to revive the canal which runs nearly eight kilometres through seven districts. Affected residents here were moved into social housing projects.

Dtinews