HCMC to relocate 5,000 people in disaster-prone areas

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee will relocate more than 5,000 residents who are living in areas vulnerable to disasters to safe places from now until 2015.

The authorities made the statement in a recent report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Accordingly, 1,294 households with over 5,000 people living on the banks of canals and rivers, on seashores and in areas prone to landslide or storms will be relocated.

Of these households, 464 will be taken to resettlement areas in 2013 and the rest will have new accomodation during the next two years.

The city now has 24 locations in 22 communes and wards in six districts, including District 2 and Binh Thanh, Thu Duc, Nha Be, Binh Chanh and Can Gio Districts.

The total cost of the relocation is estimated to be more than VND140 billion (US$6.7 million), which will be paid by the city’s state budget.