The HCM City Urban Infrastructure Construction Investment Project Management Board launched the first construction package of the Van Thanh Canal rehabilitation project in Thanh My Tay Ward on November 9.
The project has a total investment of more than VND 8.555 trillion, comprising two components.
The first, worth over VND 1.743 trillion, covers dredging, environmental improvements and infrastructure construction. The second allocates more than VND 6.812 trillion for compensation, resettlement and land clearance.
The project covers approximately 2,240 metres of Van Thanh Canal, stretching from Vo Oanh Street to the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal. The main waterway is about 1,965 metres long, with a 275-metre branch.
A total of 1,077 households and other affected cases are involved, including 749 requiring full clearance and 328 facing partial clearance.
Under the design, the canal will be dredged to a bed elevation of minus three metres and widened to between 25 and 80 metres.
The project also includes reinforced concrete embankments, stormwater and wastewater drainage systems, roads and pavements along the canal, and a parallel road connecting to Dien Bien Phu Street.
Phu An Bridge will be rebuilt, while Ngo Tat To Street, between Phu An Bridge and Phu My Street, will be widened and upgraded.
The first construction package, worth more than VND 600 billion, is the first of three packages under the infrastructure component.
It covers embankments, dredging, drainage, utility ducts, roads, landscaping and lighting from Vo Oanh Street to the Van Thanh 1 Bridge area, along with a wastewater drainage system extending to the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe basin pumping station.
Van Thanh Canal plays an important role in the city's drainage network and urban environment but has suffered from pollution, sediment accumulation and reduced drainage capacity, affecting nearby residents.
Nguyen Hoang Anh Dung, deputy director of the city's Urban Infrastructure Management Board, said the project forms part of HCM City's 2025-2030 programme to relocate households living on and along canals and improve surrounding urban areas.
He said the investment would improve drainage, reduce flooding risks, enhance living conditions and upgrade the urban landscape.
The project also aims to prevent encroachment on canal banks, curb water pollution, improve residential areas and increase water storage and drainage capacity.
HCM City Vice Chairman Hoang Nguyen Dinh described the groundbreaking as an important step in the city's urban redevelopment programme.
By 2030, the city aims to relocate approximately 40,000 households living along some 400 kilometres of canals and waterways.
The programme is estimated to cost around VND 400 trillion (USD 15.3 billion), accounting for about one-third of the city's total public investment capital for 2026-2031.
Dinh urged the project developer and local authorities to facilitate construction, while calling on contractors to mobilise sufficient workers, materials and equipment to accelerate progress and meet contractual deadlines.