The shadow of Hanoi Thousand Years Joint Stock Company in Xuyen Tam canal
In early October, the project to dredge, improve the environment, and build infrastructure for Xuyen Tam canal (flowing through Binh Thanh and Go Vap districts, nearly 9 km long) was officially approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, with a total investment of more than VND 9,600 billion.
Surprisingly, the project was assigned to the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Infrastructure Construction Investment Project Management Board as the investor, to be implemented in the period 2023 - 2028; not Hanoi Thousand Years Joint Stock Company - the unit that has been associated with this project for decades.
This is a project that has been going on for 21 years in Ho Chi Minh City. Starting in 2002, the Xuyen Tam Canal renovation project was first approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee with a budget of 123 billion VND but was later suspended due to some problems.
During the process that followed, Hanoi Thousand Years Joint Stock Company appeared and made proposals that increased the project's investment level by dozens of times.
Specifically, in 2011, Hanoi Thousand Years Joint Stock Company proposed to carry out the project in the form of BT (land for construction), with a total capital of about 7,000 billion VND. In this proposal, the renovation of Xuyen Tam canal is divided into 3 phases including the following items: Clearing houses encroaching on the canal, dredging the entire route, building embankments along the route, traffic roads on both sides of the canal and implementing resettlement...
Four years later, in 2015, Hanoi Thousand Years Joint Stock Company continued to propose investment in the Xuyen Tam Canal Renovation Project, with a total investment of more than 5,100 billion VND, of which the site clearance cost was nearly 1,100 billion VND.
Regarding the compensation plan for site clearance, Hanoi Thousand Years Joint Stock Company will organize the construction of resettlement houses on site. In return, the City will pay the investor with land along both sides of the project implementation route to arrange resettlement and implement other projects. The project is expected to be implemented from 2015 and completed in 2022.
However, on September 21, 2016, reporting to Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Le Van Khoa, Mr. Nguyen Van Tam - Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport - said that the Department must have a document urging the investor, Hanoi Thousand Years Joint Stock Company, to submit a feasibility study report on the Xuyen Tam canal renovation project because this is a project that needs to be submitted to the Ministry of Construction for appraisal.
However, up to that point, authorities said there had been no movement from the investor to finalize the start date or the possible completion time of the project.
Hanoi Company of a Thousand Years Quietly Leaves
A document published by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee shows that in a later project, Hanoi Thousand Years Joint Stock Company continued to propose a plan to implement the Xuyen Tam Canal Renovation Project with an adjusted investment capital requirement of up to nearly VND8,000 billion. The expected start date is early 2019 and completion is no later than the fourth quarter of 2024.
In the working schedule for the week of June 15 - June 21, 2020 of the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee announced by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, this week there is still a working schedule with Hanoi Ngan Nam Joint Stock Company on the Xuyen Tam canal project.
But after that time, there was no longer any trace of the Hanoi Thousand Years Joint Stock Company in the information of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee about the Xuyen Tam canal project. After 21 years, the people living along the banks of the Xuyen Tam canal still only see the project... on paper.
On December 1, speaking with Lao Dong Newspaper reporter, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Anh Dung - Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Infrastructure Construction Investment Project Management Board - said that the project was handed over to the Management Board around 2020 - 2021. Mr. Dung also did not know about the unit that had previously researched the project because many years ago the project was under the management of the Department of Transport.
Lao Dong Newspaper previously reported that after decades of implementation, the 1,000-year Thang Long Oncology and Cosmetic Surgery Hospital Project in Long Bien District (Hanoi) is still on paper.
Notably, the project investor is also Hanoi Ngan Nam Joint Stock Company and this unit was officially granted an investment certificate by the Hanoi People's Committee on February 19, 2014.
However, after nearly 10 years of being granted an investment certificate, the land of more than 11,000 m2 where the project was planned to be implemented has now become a place for people to grow vegetables and park their vehicles. Lao Dong's records on November 21-22 show that the entire land planned to build the hospital is still tightly fenced with corrugated iron.
Because more than 11,000 square meters of prime land of the hospital project has been abandoned for many years, voters of Long Bien district have continuously made complaints and requests to re-evaluate the suitability of building a hospital at this location and proposed that the government study the plan to change the land use purpose to build an additional high school for the district.
As for the project at Xuyen Tam canal, the canal known as the most polluted in Ho Chi Minh City, people will probably still have to wait.
"I've heard about the clearance of this area since I was a little kid and it's been going on for a long time. Now, my child is in elementary school but there's still no movement. Now I can't believe it just by hearing about it because it's happened so many times" - Ms. Kim Hien - a resident living by Xuyen Tam canal told Lao Dong reporter.
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