» »Unlabelled » Mammoth reclamation project from red river opens to public scrutiny

Vietnam Real Estate - Ha Noi is inviting public opinions on a controversial US$7 billion project to constrict the Red River (Song Hong) in the Vietnamese capital by up to 2km for a new urban area and will display its layout and site model next month.




Details pertaining to the plan will be open to the public at Ha Noi’s Quan Ngua Sport Palace in Ba Dinh District from May 2 this year to May 2, 2009, said deputy director of the city’s zoning and architecture department Do Viet Chien.

Being in the pipeline for years, the project is generally expected to kick off sometime between this year and 2020 and, if approved, would see a 12-kilometer stretch of the Red River narrowed to 1.5 kilometers across from 3.5.

Around 10,600 hectares is thus gained, including 1,500 hectares slated for a new ‘city’ able to accommodate 200,000 residents.

Despite a survey last September concluding that up to 90% of Hanoians support the plan, controversy over its astronomical costs and ramifications continues as 170,000 people living near the two banks would be directly affected.

Former Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet has expressed his doubts to the press about the scheme, saying the Red River is very different in terms of topographic features from other rivers in foreign cities on which the plan is based.

In related news, the Ha Noi municipal government Friday released a detailed zoning plan of the 847-hectare Tay Ho Tay new urban area in Tay Ho, Cau Giay and Tu Liem districts.

Accordingly, a 207-hectare area, with 20,000 residents, will be transformed into an international center of finance, banking, trade and services, with a hotel, an office building and a residential area.

Real Estate

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