Upgrading old buildings and relocating households living near canals are among the major projects that Ho Chi Minh City aims to carry out now and in the near future, according to city authorities.

At Tan Cang Sai Gon

The city recently organised a seminar that sought collaboration between investors and banks in seven so-called breakthrough programmes.

Participating banks have signed loan agreements for eight projects, worth a total of 26 trillion VND (1.1 billion USD) under the public–private partnership (PPP) investment mode.

The projects include a North-South road worth 18 trillion VND and Nguyen Tat Thanh Street worth 4.6 trillion VND.

Chairman of the city People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said that loans for the eight projects had created a push for future projects, as the city has a limited local budget.

More businesses are expected to invest under the PPP mode, he said.

Around 153 projects have been carried out under the PPP mode in HCM City, with total investment of 451 trillion VND (!9.9 billion USD), of which 23 projects worth a total of 71 trillion VND have been completed, and another 130 projects worth 380 trillion VND are underway.

Though the number of projects under the PPP mode only accounted for 5 percent of the total of public-invested projects, the amount of investment was 51 times higher than total public investment during the 2011-15 period, he added.

Pham Phu Quoc, Director of the HCM City Finance and Investment State-owned Company (HFIC), said that HFIC had sponsored 152 infrastructure projects in the city, valued at a combined 25 trillion VND (1.1 billion USD).

It has also called for 26.8 trillion VND of local government bonds, he added.

Upgrading old buildings and building new ones are part of the city’s modernisation plan.

At least 474 old buildings were built before 1975. Since the beginning of 2016, 1,592 households in four old buildings have been relocated.

The People’s Committee will be in charge of making decisions on relocating residents who live near canals to other areas and upgrading infrastructure.

To effectively handle the seven “breakthrough” programmes that are key to the city’s development during the 2016-20 period, the city needs a total of 850 trillion (37.5 billion USD) in funds.

Sixty percent of that total would be for anti-flooding, transport and infrastructure-related projects.

VNA