VietNamNet Bridge - Truong Trong Nghia, a NA Deputy, at the working session with the HCMC People’s Committee, warned that the two banks of Sai Gon River are being ‘privatized’.

“The real estate projects, while taking up public space, only serve wealthy people, not the 10 million city residents,” Nghia said.

“Sai Gon River is a special beauty of HCMC which other cities don’t have. The development of the real estate projects will damage the city’s development program and cause injustice to millions of city’s citizens,” he added.

An architect said in other countries, the areas along river banks are reserved for public utilities. There are roads, forests and green areas to serve the public. On weekends, families go there to walk and relax. But the situation is different in HCMC.

The areas along river banks are reserved for public utilities. There are roads, forests and green areas to serve the public. On weekends, families go there to walk and relax.

He noted that the land plots along rivers and canals are considered ‘golden land’, where the land price is 20-40 percent higher than in other areas. Real estate firms have been hunting for the riverside land to develop projects.

In the western part of Sai Gon River, for example, more real estate projects have arisen. Sai Gon Port is being turned into multi-storey apartment blocks.

Dinh The Hien, an economist, commented that the construction density of the real estate projects on Sai Gon river’s western bank is very high. He said it seems that when licensing so many projects in the western area, the city is going contrary to the plan to develop the Thu Thiem new urban area.

Hien said that many apartment projects in the area have received licenses in 2014-2015. In general, it takes four to five years to develop a project, but these projects just need one to two years to be completed.

“It is necessary to clarify the amount of the land use fee the state can collect from  projects on the riverside and how much the state has to spend to build infrastructure in the area,” he said.

Nguyen Van Duc from the Vietnam Construction Federation said in the past, multi-storey buildings were prohibited in some riverside areas. However, multi-storey buildings still have arisen, damaging the landscape.

He stressed that the development of riverside projects deprive HCMC dwellers of landscapes, while breezes are prevented by concrete walls.

Unreasonable programming has brought consequences. Nguyen Huu Canh Street has become a hub for flooding of the city. There are over 15,000 apartments in the area.

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