Hanoi (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is striving to reactivate several key projects thathave been shelved for years with a view to helping ease flooding and trafficcongestion.

HCMCity has officially entered the rainy season, but a project worth 10 trillionVND (426.4 million USD) on addressing tidal flooding with climate change takeninto account hasn’t shown any signs of resumption, the Lao dong (Labour) dailyreported.

Thoughmore than 93% of the workload was completed, this anti-tidal flood project hasbeen suspended since late 2020 due to hindrances related to the contractappendix and payment procedures.

Facingthe same situation, construction on the third section of Ring Road No 2 has beenhalted for over three years. The nearly-2.7km stretch, connecting Pham Van Dongroad to the Go Dua intersection in Thu Duc city, was invested with over 2.7trillion VND under the build - transfer (BT) format.

Obstaclesrelated to site clearance and land were blamed for the suspension of thisproject, with some 44% already completed, since March 2020.

Meanwhile,Tan Ky - Tan Quy Bridge had its construction under the build - operate -transfer (BOT) format started in early 2018. Located in the southwesterngateway of HCM City, it has total investment of over 312 billion VND.

About70% of workload had been completed by December 2018, but issues related to siteclearance and compensation have led to a halt to construction since then.

Inearly 2023, the HCM City People’s Committee signed the BT contract’s appendix,which extended the completion deadline for the anti-tidal flood project.

TheTrung Nam BT 1547 Co. Ltd, which carried out this project, is waiting for theState Bank’s opinion so that the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam(BIDV) can disburse capital for the project. If disbursement is made in thenext two months, this project can be completed in February 2024 and handed overto the municipal People’s Committee in May the same year.

However,Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Phan Van Mai recently demandedrelevant units ramp up efforts to resume the project right this May andcomplete it by the end of 2023.

Regardingthe third section of Ring Road No 2, Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’sCommittee Bui Xuan Cuong has directly inspected this project and urged related agenciesto complete and re-submit the contract appendix in May. If legal procedures arefinished soon, construction can be reactivated as early as in June.

TheBOT format of the Tan Ky - Tan Quy Bridge project has been converted intopublic investment worth nearly 500 billion VND, including about 230 billion VNDpaid for the finished workload and 261 billion VND for building the remainder.

Authoritiesof Binh Tan district are also accelerating site clearance so that the projectcan be recovered this year and completed in 2025, according to Lao dong./.