An ambitious project to build the country's biggest park in HCM City has remained in limbo for years due to disputes over land compensation rates which led to slow ground clearance.
Abandoned land
The USD500 million Saigon Safari Park Project was intended to be Vietnam's largest eco-tourism attraction, focusing on wildlife conservation, display, and breeding of rare plants and animals. Plans included a zoo, night safari, botanical collection, natural history museum, a fauna and flora research centre, resort and other supporting facilities.
In 2004, 485 hectares of land were allocated for the project. However, slow site clearance and a complicated compensation process has seen the project be largely abandoned.
Doan Van Xuan, a local in An Nhon Tay Commune, said that the authorities and investors had not publicly announced the land compensation rates. "Many people filed complaints when they realised that the compensation payments were vastly different from household to household even though the land lots were pretty much the same," he said.
Project to build the country's biggest park in HCM City has remained in limbo
He went on to say that the current offered compensation rates were identical to those offered in 2004, at just VND75,000-150,000 per square metre. "That rate could have been enough in 2004 to buy a new house, but not now," he said.
Chairman of HCM City Le Hoang Quan asked city inspectors and other agencies to review the case and deal with the complaints. He also reprimanded state agencies and investors for letting such a huge project run into such difficulties.
The local Department of Home Affairs has been asked to research ways to restart the project as soon as possible.
