Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan has affirmed that the city will seek all measures and mechanisms to deal with its urban problems and improve living and working conditions for its citizens.

Flood in Ho Chi Minh City

Addressing a conference to call for investments in relocating those living along canals in the city on February 1, the municipal leader said that Ho Chi Minh City needs investment for six projects involved.

In 2018, the city will need investments for two projects that will help complete the relocation and resettlement of 20,000 households living on and along the canals by 2020.

Tran Vinh Tuyen, Vice Chairman of the Municipal People’s Committee pointed out that the city has faced numerous problems, such as traffic jam, flooding, environmental pollution, and climate change impacts.

Particularly, the city still has over 20,000 households living on and along canals, the issue that generations of municipal authorities have tried to tackle. 

The resolution of the 10th municipal Party Congress set a goal of resettling the 20,000 households by 2020, and the city, with a limited budget, has designed policies to mobilise resources for the work in the public-private partnership, he said.

Tran Trong Tuan, Director of the Department of Construction said that the city needs about 2.5 trillion VND from its budget and about 23.24 trillion VND from the community to realise the effort.

Director of the World Bank in Vietnam Ousmane Dione pointed to the issues of capital, relocation, and resettlement when the city is undertaking the plan. 

He suggested the city strongly reform institutions and reinforce inspection and supervision of specialized agencies.

The WB commits to continuing cooperating with and supporting the city in upgrading its canals to build a modern city that will benefit people, he said. -VNA