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Started in 2016, but up to now, the Red Light Cape project is still just a bunch of abandoned land and overgrown reeds (Photo: SGGP) |
In 2019, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City approved an investment project for a VND5 trillion waste incineration plant to generate electricity at the Northwest Solid Waste Treatment Complex in Cu Chi District’s Thai My Commune of Tam Sinh Nghia Investment and Development Joint Stock Company with a capacity of 2,000 tons per day.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Science and Technology has appraised the technology of waste burning to generate electricity while the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has approved the project's environmental impact assessment report. After, the project was started in October 2019, but after more than 3 years of implementation, the project has just finished the geological survey, leveling, and building of surrounding walls.
A representative of Tam Sinh Nghia Investment and Development Joint Stock Company explained that in order to be able to add the project to the master plan to develop power sources using solid waste into the national electricity grid, from 2020 till now, the company has had to go through a lot of administrative procedures. Specifically, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Document No. 6525/BCT-DL to ministries and agencies on September 1, 2020.
Later, the Department of Electricity and Renewable Energy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent a document to the HCMC Department of Industry and Trade about the adjustment of the dossier to add the Tam Sinh Nghia waste incineration plant power project to the master plan of electricity development on December 30, 2020.
The company has sent a document to the HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Department of Planning and Planning, and the People's Committee of Cu Chi District at the request of the Department of Industry and Trade about consulting relevant departments on legal content, regulations, a land plan of the project in the above-mentioned document of the Electricity Department. After completion, the company had to adjust the dossier according to the comments of relevant units for submission to the Department of Industry and Trade.
On May 13, 2021, the Department of Industry and Trade submitted a report to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City and the municipal People's Committee sent an official letter to the Ministry of Industry and Trade on this issue, but so far the Ministry has not replied.
Another project is the VND1 trillion waste-to-energy plant of TASCO Joint Stock Company which was meant to handle 1,120 tons of waste daily. The project’s detailed construction planning of 1/500 scale at the Northwest Solid Waste Treatment Complex in outlying district Cu Chi has been approved by the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. However, at present, the project has only completed the construction of a temporary road along Canal 15 and a temporary bridge to serve the construction of the factory, leveling a part of the project site.
Finally, the 118 hectares Saigon Peninsula New Urban Area Project (also known as the Red Light Cape project) at the confluence of the Saigon River in Dao Tri Street in District 7 is a functional urban area with an area including Mui Den Do Park and urban housing with apartments, office buildings, 5-star hotels, international passenger ports, and high-class facilities.
Van Thinh Phat Group Joint Stock Company signed a cooperation agreement with foreign investors including Pavilion Group and Genting Group to invest in the Saigon Peninsula New Urban Area Project with a total investment capital of nearly US$6 billion. In 2016, the project held a groundbreaking ceremony by Saigon Peninsula Group Joint Stock Company. However, hundreds of hectares of land are full of trees and weeds while the items of this project are degraded and deserted.
Previously, 29 households owning land in the project area filed a lawsuit against the Saigon Peninsula Group Joint Stock Company, demanding compensation of more than VND 2,100 billion because they signed a contract to transfer land use rights from 2007-2008 but as of 2019, they have still not received the payment as commitment.
In early 2022, the District 7 People's Court rejected the request of these 29 households, saying that the company had paid the households in full. However, the households disagreed with the court’s decision adding that they would file a lawsuit to a higher court.
Riverside road project delayed due to site clearance
At the end of 2021, the People's Committee of Bien Hoa City in the Southern Province of Dong Nai held a ground-breaking ceremony for an investment project to build a road along the Dong Nai River in Bien Hoa City. The project has a total length of 5.2km with an investment of nearly VND1,300 billion for construction cost and ground clearance.
Of VND1,300 billion, VND400 billion is from the central budget and the rest is from the Dong Nai province budget. To implement the project, the People's Committee of Bien Hoa City had to recover an area of 17.6 hectares of land from 587 households and 302 households had to be relocated.
After more than a year of breaking ground, the project's items are still left empty without construction. Many household owners who have land to be recovered but have not yet been approved for compensation said that they are ready to give up their land for the authorities to soon implement. But the slow progress of the project resulting in delayed compensation makes people anxious because they do not know when they will be relocated to stabilize their lives.
The Dong Nai Project Management Board’s figure shows that Bien Hoa City has just handed over more than 13 hectares of land so far. For the remaining area of nearly 3 hectares (equivalent to 1.3 km), the local administration has not had the compensation and support plan for 41 households that are still located in the area; therefore, the People's Committee of Bien Hoa City is directing competent agencies to complete the project administrative procedures.
As for the land of the 935th Regiment's Petrol Pumping Station, the People's Committee of Bien Hoa City has worked with the Regiment while the Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee also had working sessions with the Ministry of National Defense, the Air Defense - Air Force to discuss solutions.
Talking to a reporter from the SGGP Newspaper, a leader of the Dong Nai People's Committee said that the biggest problem still lies in site clearance. The Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee is asking relevant departments to coordinate and support Bien Hoa City to remove difficulties to speed up the implementation of this key project.
