HCM City, which plans to relocate people living in slums along canals, will move them to places nearby in order not to dislocate their lives.— Photo vfpress.vn

HCM CITY – HCM City, which plans to relocate people living in slums along canals, will move them to places nearby in order not to dislocate their lives.

Bình Thạnh, for instance, has 2,500 such families, many of them living along the Văn Thánh, Xuyên Tâm and Bùi Hữu Nghĩa canals.

Huỳnh Bá Trung Nam, deputy head of the People’s Committee Office, said the three canals are set to be cleaned up, and the city has approved resettlement of the people living along them.

The task is expected to be completed by 2022.

Phan Ngọc Anh Huy, head of the district’s Land Clearance and Compensation Committee, said everyone moved out would be resettled within the district to ensure they do not lose their livelihoods.

Trần Thanh Hoà, a resident living in the Văn Thánh slum, said resettlement within the district would enable authorities to clean the canals since people would agree to move out of their slums.

Many projects are delayed because people refuse to move out due to various reasons.

Hoà said he had agreed to move because he would not have to travel far to his workplace from his new home.

Elsewhere, as part of the city’s Water Environment Improvement Project phase 3, around 5,800 families living in slums along the Đôi – Tẻ Canal in Districts 4 and 8 will be relocated, with the latter accounting for 5,400.

Lương Minh Phúc, head of the city’s Urban Traffic Works Investment Management Board, which will execute the project, said, “The project’s phase 3 is in the pre-feasibility study stage and will be submitted to the city People’s Committee this quarter [for approval].”

Past projects have shown that relocated people want to be near their old homes so that their lives, studies and work would not be dislocated too much, he said.

Authorities have taken this on board, he said.

Nguyễn Thành Phong, chairman of the city People’s Committee, said the administration’s policy is that the lives of relocated people must be better than or equal to their old one.

Under a programme of urban renovation and development, the city plans to relocate around 2,000 families living along canals in Districts 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, Bình Thạnh, Gò Vấp, Phú Nhuận, Bình Tân, and Tân Phú this year.

It will relocate around 20,000 households by 2025. –VNS