Relocating houses along rivers and canals in Ho Chi Minh City: The disadvantaged worry about not being able to afford the red book money

According to a report by the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), over the past 30 years (1993 - 2020), Ho Chi Minh City has resettled 44,000 houses along rivers and canals that had to be cleared.

A typical example is the project to relocate houses on and along the Nhieu Loc - Thi Nghe canal, which has "changed the lives" of more than 7,000 households and completely changed the urban appearance, landscape, and drainage of a large inner-city area of up to 33.2 km2 of Ho Chi Minh City.

Currently, in the old Ho Chi Minh City, there are still more than 39,600 houses on and along 398 rivers and canals. (Photo: CD)

However, since 2006, the results have gradually decreased. Specifically, the period 1993-2000 achieved 9,266 units; 2001-2005 achieved the highest result of up to 15,548 units; in the period 2006-2010 it decreased to 7,542 units; 2011-2015 it decreased to 3,350 units; 2016-2020 there were only 2,479 units.

In the period 2021 - 2025, the target was to relocate 6,500 units, but by July 2025, only 2,984 units had been relocated, and in the whole year 2025, it is expected that only 5,548 units would be relocated, reaching about 85.35% of the plan.

According to HoREA, currently in the city (old) there are still more than 39,600 houses on and along 398 large and small rivers, canals and ditches with about 65,000 households, concentrated in districts 4, 7, 8, Binh Thanh, Go Vap, Binh Tan and Thu Duc city (old).

Most of the houses in this area are dilapidated, temporarily built of wood and corrugated iron, with an average area of 20-30 square meters, lacking living conditions and minimum amenities.

Because most of the construction encroaches on canals, households are not eligible for compensation for residential land, so they are only compensated for the construction costs. Therefore, the compensation amount is very low.

When receiving resettlement support, people are usually only allocated the minimum resettlement quota, mainly resettlement apartments. A few cases are allocated resettlement land or resettlement house plots with the minimum resettlement land quota.

However, to be granted a "red book", people must pay land use fees.

If this proposal is applied, the amount of money that resettled people have to pay, even though it is only a few hundred million VND, is too large for them. Therefore, HoREA believes that applying the resettlement land price according to the land price list and adjustment coefficient is not suitable for the majority of people who only have a resettlement land plot or a minimum resettlement land plot.

In addition, it is necessary to ensure policy consistency when compared with the current proposal of the Ministry of Finance on land use fees for households and individuals who have agricultural land converted to residential land, according to which they only have to pay 30% of the land price within the limit and 50% of the land price exceeding the limit. The Association proposes to apply 20% of the land price within the limit and 30% of the land price exceeding the limit for more reasonableness.

The Association recognizes that the Party and State's viewpoint is to create conditions for people living in resettlement areas to have a life equal to or better than their old residence, especially for households living on and along canals that have very difficult lives.

If they have to pay hundreds of millions of dong to have a "red book" at their new place of residence, this cost is too high and beyond their ability. Therefore, it is necessary to have a harmonious and humane policy for the disadvantaged, in order to contribute to speeding up the compensation and site clearance for many projects where the State reclaims land for national and public interests.

In fact, the city is implementing the goal of relocating 20,000 houses on and along canals and streams in the 2026-2030 period according to the Resolution of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress.

“Thus, the development and application of reasonable policies on compensation, land use fees and resettlement are core factors to ensure the rights of people, especially vulnerable households, while creating conditions to promote the program of relocating houses along canals to continue achieving positive results in the coming years,” said HoREA.

Source: https://congluan.vn/di-doi-nha-ven-song-kenh-rach-o-tp-hcm-nguoi-yeu-the-lo-khong-noi-tien-so-do-10317208.html