The rains in early October 2023 further marred the appearance of La Xuan Oai and Lo Lu streets (Thu Duc City), leaving them uneven and riddled with potholes hidden beneath murky puddles.
Bridges and roads are awaiting land acquisition.
Despite plans to expand the road to meet the transportation needs of residents, the project is stalled due to ongoing compensation issues. Specifically, the project to upgrade and expand La Xuan Oai road from the Lo Lu intersection to Nguyen Duy Trinh road (in Truong Thanh and Long Truong wards) has been allocated 190 billion VND for compensation, while the section from D2 High-Tech Park to Le Van Viet road has been allocated 282 billion VND for compensation (in Tang Nhon Phu A and Tang Nhon Phu B wards), but neither has received any disbursed funds. The project's obstacles relate to the allocation of resettlement land and housing funds and the approval of land price adjustment coefficients for calculating compensation.
Lo Lu Street (Thu Duc City) is severely degraded, but the local authorities have not yet disbursed compensation funds for upgrading and expanding the road.
On La Xuan Oai Street, there is also the Tang Long bridge project, which started construction at the end of 2017 and was expected to be completed in 2019. However, after more than 30% of the work was completed, it has stalled due to land acquisition issues. For the past four years, residents have been waiting for the project to restart, but the local authorities have not yet finalized a date for land handover. While waiting for the project, the only option for residents is a temporary iron bridge.
Also in Thu Duc City, Lo Lu Street, approximately 2.5 km long, connecting La Xuan Oai Street to Nguyen Xien Street, is facing the same problem: muddy flooding during the rainy season and thick dust during the dry season. Despite being only 6-10 meters wide, it's a main thoroughfare, carrying a large volume of cars and trucks daily. Lo Lu Street has two bridges: Lap Bridge and Chum Chup Bridge, both only about 3-4 meters wide, requiring vehicles at either end to yield to one before their turn. The Lo Lu Street expansion project was allocated 105 billion VND for compensation (the section through Truong Thanh Ward), but as of mid-September 2023, not a single penny had been disbursed, even though the land price adjustment coefficient had been approved in 2022.
The La Xuan Oai, Lo Lu, and Tang Long bridge roads are three of the 32 compensation projects in Thu Duc City in 2023, with a total capital of 9,395 billion VND. By mid-September 2023, Thu Duc had only disbursed 2,726 billion VND in compensation funds, equivalent to 29%. Thu Duc also leads Ho Chi Minh City in the number of projects with zero disbursement, with 26 projects (valued at 2,386 billion VND), five other projects behind schedule, and only one project on schedule (Ong Bon bridge with a capital of 7.7 billion VND).
Project over budget
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Thu Duc City has a large number of projects and a significant amount of allocated capital, many of which are unfinished and have been delayed. To achieve a high disbursement rate, the locality needs to focus on resolving the unfinished projects and the two large-scale projects: Ring Road 3 (6,539 billion VND) and My Thuy intersection (1,044 billion VND). The Department of Natural Resources and Environment forecasts that Thu Duc will not reach a disbursement rate of 95% by the end of the year.
Despite decisive leadership, progress has not been commensurate.
Since the beginning of the year, agencies from the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, People's Council to the People's Committee have been decisively directing the disbursement of public investment capital, considering it a driving force to prevent economic decline and restore the economy . Specifically, the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee established 13 working groups to monitor and expedite 38 key projects, while the People's Council conducted thematic supervision on public investment. The People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City issued directives, reminders, and urgings every 1-2 months, but progress on construction sites and the disbursement rate at the treasury have not been commensurate.
Besides Thu Duc City, the list of localities projected to fail to achieve the 95% disbursement rate for compensation funds in 2023 also includes Cu Chi District, Hoc Mon District, District 12, and District 5. In 2023, District 5 only has 3 compensation projects: the construction of Tuong Lai Special School, the district medical center, and the construction of Hang Bang Canal, with a total allocated capital of over 587 billion VND, but not a single penny has been disbursed yet.
Among these, the construction of the Hang Bang canal is a key project of Ho Chi Minh City, passing through two districts (District 5 and District 6), starting at Van Tuong Street and ending at Lo Gom Canal.
In District 6, the project, spanning over 1.4 km, is divided into three phases. The section from Binh Tien Street to Lo Gom Canal has been completed, with both sides transformed into shady parks and playgrounds for children. Phase 2, spanning 500 meters and affecting 344 households, began in 2018 but has only been completed on the Bai Say Street side. On the Phan Van Khoi Street side, 88 cases remain unresolved due to claims that the compensation rates are lower than market value.
This project was approved for the 2016-2020 period, but due to slow progress, it had to be extended to the 2021-2025 period. At the mid-year 2022 session, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council passed a resolution increasing the total investment and extending the implementation time for 16 slow-moving projects, including the Hang Bang Canal project, which increased from 188 billion VND to 779 billion VND. Similarly, the Tang Long Bridge project also increased its total investment from 238 billion VND to 688 billion VND, largely due to increased compensation costs.
Delayed approval of land price adjustment coefficients.
In 2023, Ho Chi Minh City had 271 compensation projects with a capital of nearly 27,000 billion VND (accounting for 39% of total public investment), including 116 projects carried over from 2022 and 155 new projects this year. As of September 13th, Ho Chi Minh City had disbursed 11,625 billion VND, equivalent to over 43%. Among the 155 projects allocated compensation capital in 2023, 24 projects were behind schedule and 101 projects had not yet disbursed funds, concentrated in Thu Duc City, Cu Chi District, Binh Chanh District, Hoc Mon District, District 8 and District 12.
Among the reasons for the slow disbursement of compensation funds, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment particularly noted the process of submitting, appraising, and approving the land price adjustment coefficient for compensation calculation. According to Decision 05/2022 of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, from the time of land acquisition notice to the time the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee approves the land price adjustment coefficient is approximately 240 days (8 months). In the action program on promoting the disbursement of public investment capital in 2023, the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, Phan Van Mai, requested localities to carefully prepare compensation unit prices so that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee can approve all projects before July 30th. For the remaining time, localities should focus on paying compensation and persuading people to comply.
Despite anticipating bottlenecks and issuing decisive directives since the beginning of the year, the actual progress has not been commensurate. As of September 2023, out of 155 projects allocated compensation funds for 2023, 65 projects still lacked approved land price adjustment coefficients. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment predicts that these projects will either be unable to disburse funds or will disburse very little this year.
The head of the Land Compensation and Resettlement Board of a suburban district of Ho Chi Minh City stated that in order to implement compensation, a project must meet three conditions: conformity with the planning, approval by the competent authority, and approval of the land use plan. According to regulations, the annual land use plan must be approved before December 31st of the previous year, but in Ho Chi Minh City, many localities only receive approval in the second or third quarter. For example, in 2023, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee only approved the land use plans for District 8, Tan Binh District, and Tan Phu District on August 31st...
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