Saigon Developement Update - August 2009

This morning I took a drive to town for a few things and stopped on the way to have a look around the site of the tunnel which makes up part of the east-west highway. One of the best vantage points is the Museum of Ho Chi Minh, one of my favourite places in Ho Chi Minh City. Not that you'll find me hanging around there very often, but there is something majestic about its location on the banks of the river, and something serene about the airy building.



Part of the gardens look out over District One.



I then took a stroll over the new Cau Khanh Hoi, under which the tunnel is being constructed. Some workers were beavering on a massive drain - hopefully for when the tunnel cracks and floods when it opens. Just kidding.





Then the tunnel itself, a cavernous opening that eerily plunges under the river.



Some makeshift accommodation for workers with the museum in the background.



Walking back on the other side of the bridge, I snapped these houses hanging perilously over a construction site, forget the name of the building but it's on the corner of HN and TDT. Finally they have started building - good luck to the residents who seem to have somehow constructed their houses on top of another building.



The entrance to the tunnel on the landside - it actually goes under the white building as well.



The no-mans-land of workers temporary accommodation and construction material where the canal has been filled in. It'll be interesting to see what happens on this prime land once the project is done.



The squalor of the living conditions for those working on the site is pretty shocking...



From that, to this:





The first InterContinental in Saigon and the Kumho Asiana Plaza form part of the massive new complex that looks ready to open soon. This is on Hai Ba Trung, the site of the old Saigon Square. I noticed another gaping hole where there shouldn't be one on the corner of Le Thanh Ton and Hai Ba Trung - this used to be a posh restuarant with whitewashed walls.



Another big project underway is around Dong Khoi, Le Thanh Ton and Ly Tu Trong. There used to be a great open air coffee shop and small garden here but obviously it's days were numbered.



I was planned to report from Nguyen Huu Canh as well but it'll have to wait - it's carnage down there at the moment!