After 26 years, Rạch Chiếc Sports Complex is still a swamp. — Photo zing.vn

HCM CITY — Rạch Chiếc Sports Complex was supposed to host events for the upcoming Southeast Asian Games next year in Việt Nam, but the complex seems no closer to being completed, despite the project to build it being re-launched in 2018.

The project was approved in 1994 to be built on 466ha in HCM City's District 2, but the planning has since been adjusted to a mere 392ha.

The land was expected to be cleared for construction by the end of the first quarter of 2018, however, this has yet to occur.

After 26 years, the land is still a swamp with its ponds and lakes used by local residents for aquaculture and recreational fishing services.

Other areas have become rubbish dumps for domestic waste, old clothes, furniture and even animal carcasses, causing serious environmental pollution.

So far, the only infrastructure that has been built is a 1km road with a cross-section of about 80 metres connecting the site of the mooted complex to the Cát Lái junction intersection.

Of the construction cost worth about VNĐ260 billion (US$10.1 million), VNĐ100 billion was donated by a private corporation to speed up the construction progress as the road also connects to its separate project.

Together with local developers, a foreign investor is developing a 64ha urban complex project on the site planned for Rạch Chiếc Sports Complex, with 26ha a centre for sports training and services.

The project started in 2019, but so far, only a small building has been built. — VNS