Flood control brick wall fences off thousands in HCM City

A three-kilometer brick wall has recently been erected along Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District to make way for an upcoming road surface elevation project.

The project is part of the city’s latest attempt to deal with chronic flooding caused by downpours and high tides that affect the lives of millions living in sunken areas in the city.

The wall has blocked the entrance to houses on the street, turning ground floors into basements and forcing businesses to close down, with some residents putting up ‘for sale’ signs due to the uninhabitable conditions.

A boy crouches through a small gap in the wall to get out of his house on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Some have made temporary measures to cope with the situation, by either building their own ‘overpass’ to get into and out of their homes, or by completely destroying the ceiling of the ground floor, which has been towered over by the newly built wall.

Some stretches of the wall rise as high as over one meter from the ground, the height to which the road surface will be elevated.

Tien, a grocery store owner on the street, said construction workers began building the wall about a month ago, leaving only a small gap to access his house.

“My house was built to last so it’s very hard to renovate,” Tien said. “I’m worried that my ground floor will turn into a basement once they finish construction.”

Many other residents and business owners have also complained about the negative impact the wall will have on their lives and business.

A house is fenced off entirely from the street by the wall on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City.

In response to the complaints, the Steering Center of the Urban Flood Control Program, the manager of the project, said that it had temporarily put the construction on hold to await directions from the municipal People’s Committee.

The project manager’s representative confirmed, however, that the construction of the wall was in line with blueprints approved by the city’s transport department, which specify that the height of the new road would be two meters in the middle and 1.7 meters on either side.

The representative added that the wall was built to prevent sand and stones from infiltrating residents’ houses during construction, as well as marking the new height of the elevated road.

According to Nguyen Minh Nhut, Vice Chairman of the Binh Tan People’s Committee, the district had held a meeting with local residents to announce the road surface elevation project prior to its commencement, and 90% of households had agreed to move forward.

“Perhaps they didn’t anticipate how high the new road surface would be until the wall was actually built,” Nhut said.

According to Nhut, over 500 households will be affected by the project, which elevates three kilometers of road surface from 0.4 to 1.3 meters.

The entrance to a kindergarten on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City is almost blocked by a wall.

A house has its ground floor ceiling removed to make room for living after being towered over by the wall on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City.

A house on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City with a ‘for sale’ banner hung at the front

An automobile showroom is fenced off entirely from the street by the wall on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Residents use a wood plank to get a motorbike across the wall on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City.

An optics store is fenced off entirely from the street by the wall on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City.

A closed shop on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City with a sign posted outside announcing their new location

Construction workers are seen building the wall in front of a house on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City

A woman steps over a narrow gap in the wall to get out of an ATM booth on Kinh Duong Vuong Street in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City.