663 Saigon families to be relocated for ring road construction

The department said in a recent report that the section of Ring Road No.3 through HCMC will stretch 47 kilometers, running through Thu Duc City and the outlying districts of Cu Chi, Hoc Mon and Binh Chanh.

To serve the project, an area of 397 hectares will be cleared and the site clearance process will affect 1,670 families. Of them, 663 will have to be moved out while the rest will only have to give up a part of their land.

As planned, for each square meter of land that must be cleared to build the project, affected families will be compensated VND19-40 million ($767-1,615).

The department said in July that the Ring Road No.3 section running through HCMC will be built in June next year, which is six months sooner than previously planned.

The move came after the National Assembly said in June it would allocate funds “soon” to complete the project by 2025.

The House chairman, Vuong Dinh Hue, told lawmakers that the “urgency” of the project occasioned funding priority for it.

Ring Road No.3 is the biggest ever transport project in the south, running over 90 kilometers (56 miles) and connecting HCMC with neighboring industrial hubs Binh Duong, Long An and Dong Nai.

HCMC and its neighbors agree that such a road is necessary to help tackle chronic traffic jams in several areas and spearhead economic and social development in the Southern Key Economic Region that also includes Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc, and Tien Giang Provinces.

Ten years since it was approved, only 16 kilometers of the ring road have been completed, all in Binh Duong.

According to the Ministry of Transport, once finished, the road would have eight lanes for vehicles to travel at 100 kph.