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More traffic gridlock on the way for HCMC
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There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight to the dreaded green traffic barriers that block the flow of traffic on many Ho Chi Minh City streets.

Over the next two years, 52 kilometers of city streets are supposed to be dug up as part of a US$270.3 million environment hygiene project and a $199.6 million drainage project.

Since last year, more than 30 kilometers of streets have been under excavation as work continues on the two projects, and some 200 street barriers have been creating traffic chaos across the city.

The environment hygiene project, which involves installing pipes to carry wastewater to the city’s waste treatment plants, has another 15.8 kilometers of pipeline to install under city streets over the next two years.

Dang Ngoc Hoi, from the project management board, said work is mostly finished on the pipe network that runs under Ton Duc Thang, Ham Nghi and Tran Hung Dao streets in District 1, which connect to a treatment plant in outlying Binh Chanh District.

Digging work for the drainage project, which will help alleviate flooding in the area around Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal, was started in May last year and about 16 kilometers of the roadwork has been finished.

The project must be completed by December 2009 but with more than 40 kilometers to go, the contractors have to excavate 3.9 kilometers of roadway a month.

Several main streets, including Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Vo Thi Sau, Hai Ba Trung, Phan Dinh Phung and Cach Mang Thang Tam, will be partially dug up.

Phan Hoang Dieu, director of the project management board, said the board has asked contractors to get as much work done as possible during the dry season which begins this month.

Dieu said the city authorities should support the project by helping clear out underground projects that obstruct the digging.

No work has been done behind the barriers on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street in Binh Thanh District because the contractors and the water supply unit can’t agree on moving the water pipelines.

At the same time, no work has been undertaken behind a street barrier on District 5’s Thuan Kieu Street since last year because no approval has been granted to remove underground water pipelines.

Management boards of the environment hygiene and drainage projects are both worried about how to finish their projects on schedule when work is held up for months every time water pipelines are uncovered.

The pipeline owners, many of them joint stock companies, require an upfront payment of 70 percent of the cost for removing the pipeline.

The hygiene project management board admitted that no section of the project has met its deadline, mainly because of the increased cost of materials and higher interest rates.

Material suppliers raised their transport fees and began asking for payment in advance, the board added.

Subcontracted companies are also causing problems, with some construction subcontractors using the budget for other purposes, the management board said.

Early this month the management broke off with state-owned contractor Bach Dang Construction Company for being late in their work even though they had already been paid.

Source: Tuoi Tre