As city officials prepare for phase three of a Japanese-funded canal clean-up project, 5,800 families in Saigon will be forced to move house.
The project, which originally began in 2012, has already moved 400 households during its first and second phases, reports Tuoi Tre.
Its latest efforts, focused on upgrading a 13.5-kilometer stretch of road running alongside the canals, will affect 1,600 hectares of land across Districts 4, 7 and 8 as well as Binh Chanh District. Overall site clearance compensation for the project is valued at VND4.5 trillion (US$201.9 million), though individual details are not yet available.
Once complete, these canal upgrades will help to ease flooding in the southern hub, where certain vulnerable areas are routinely underwater during rainy season. The city has also recently mulled the purchase of US$62 million worth of mobile water pumps to help combat its annual deluge.
As for the thousands of families who will be moving house in the near future, Luong Minh Phuc, director of the city's Urban Traffic Construction Investment Management Board, told Tuoi Tre his agency was in talks with the Department of Construction as well as the People's Committee chairman of District 8 about building new high-rises for the displaced residents nearby in an effort to keep those who must move closer to their former home.
[Photo via Flickr user Giang Dong Du]
