HCM City revives $431m flood prevention project

HCM CITY — HCM City has instructed government departments and district administrations to reassess how much land is required for building various facilities for its VNĐ10 trillion ($431 million) flood prevention project and prepare to pay compensation for land and make appraisals to revive the much-delayed work.

The project, started in 2016, aims to prevent tidal flooding in many parts of the city.

Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee, instructed the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to do the reassessment, including for District 7’s Bà Bướm Sewage, before March 5.

The Department of Finance, which manages the Appraisal Council for Land Prices, will co-ordinate with districts to monitor appraisal of land prices for paying compensation to people whose lands are acquired and relocate them.

The Compensation Appraisal Council has to arrange the funds while district administrations and city agencies have to acquire lands for the relocation.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment will allot military land for the Tân Thuận Sewage System in District 4.

The city has also approved the hiring of the Mechanical Engineering Research Institute to appraise the steel used in the work.

The contractor for the flood-prevention project, Trung Nam Group, was last year discovered to have used cheaper Chinese steel for part of the project instead of steel from G7 countries as required under the contract.

The project was halted as a result though the company claimed the change had been authorised and would not impact the quality. — Khanh