A section of Xuyên Tâm Canal in HCM City’s Bình Thạnh District is seriously polluted, affecting local residents' health and the environment. — VNA/VNS Photo Trần Xuân Tình

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Committee has approved investment for a VNĐ9.6 trillion (US$391 million) project to renovate polluted Xuyên Tâm Canal in the city. 

After prolonged delays, the project includes dredging and cleaning up the polluted canal in the city’s Bình Thạnh and Gò Vấp districts, and building a wastewater collection and drainage system, a new road on each side with green areas and parks, and technical infrastructure.

The total investment capital will be sourced from the city budget, including more than VNĐ6 trillion ($245 million) for compensation and resettlement costs.

The city Urban Infrastructure Construction Investment Project Unit’s management board will be the project’s investor.

The total length of Xuyên Tâm Canal is about 8.2km, of which the project's scope from Nhiêu Lộc-Thị Nghè Canal to Vàm Thuật River is 6.6km long.

Construction of the project requires the reclamation of about 159,000 metres of land, and the relocation of about 1,880 affected households along the canal. 

The project has been delayed for more than 20 years and is also one of the city’s urgent projects of urban betterment and development in the period 2021-25.

Previously, the project was planned to be invested under a BT (build-transfer) contract in a public-private partnership (PPP) model. But in 2019, the city agreed to allocate public investment capital from the city budget to implement the project.

Construction of the project is scheduled to begin this year and be completed in 2028.

The city will set up a working group to carry out construction of the project and the relocation of affected houses.

For many years, Xuyên Tâm Canal has been polluted due to illegal discharge of untreated domestic waste and wastewater used by households living along both sides of the canal.

That has caused blockages of water flow that pollute the environment and cause flooding.

City authorities have made great efforts to increase public awareness about the need to stop littering into rivers and canals, and strictly manage illegal encroachment and littering. — VNS