Saigon Bridge 2

Ongoing work and nearing completion. That infamous trundle over the narrow, crowded Saigon Bridge will soon be a thing of the past.

The crystal ball works - or the prevailing of common sense

I've always thought Saigon has a unique and charming city center, specifically the central part of D1 - Le Loi from Ben Thanh to Hai Ba Trung, Dong Khoi from the Notre Dame to the river, Nguyen Hue and its surrounding side streets. Even Ton Duc Thang, with the hotels lining the river front.

Back in March 2007 I wrote the following in the post 'Will 2020 ever come to Saigon?:

What I envisage for the city is a pedestrian area encompassing Nguyen Hue, Dong Khoi and Lam Son Square. I am no urban planner and maybe it's too late to build the parking that would be necessary, but wouldn't it be nice.....

And then in 2010 in 'Nowhere to go'.

Do not despair however residents of Ho Chi Minh City. One last hope remains and I am talking about the frontage of the Saigon River in Districts One and Four. Nguyen Tat Thanh currently houses the Saigon Port which I hear will be moving to Nha Be District at some point in the future leaving a wonderful stretch of riverfront available from the Tan Thuan bridge all the way to the Museum of Ho Chi Minh. And why stop there - once heavy traffic is diverted from Ton Duc Thang with the completion of the tunnel and the East-West highway, the river front here could also be developed. Picture it - kilometers of walking, restaurants, cafes and family attractions. With the District 1 skyline in one direction and the Phu My bridge in the other, the esplanade would be the envy of South East Asia, thousands of new visitors would flood the city, and long suffering residents and their children would finally have somewhere to enjoy. 

Now see the article 'Ho Chi Minh City downtown area to be expanded' (10/5/2013)

According to the plan, which has been approved by the city government, the existing downtown area, covering District 1 and District 3, will be expanded to include an area along the Saigon River in District 4 and Binh Thanh District and the ports along Nguyen Tat Thanh Street and the Tau Hu-Ben Nghe canals. Many streets in the area will become pedestrian streets and shopping areas, and the green area will be expanded by 70 hectares. Le Loi and Nguyen Hue Streets will become pedestrian shopping areas.Except for buses and other public transport services, motorbikes and personal cars will be banned from traveling into the area

The Saigon River’s western bank quarter: the river’s bank area that stretches to the Tan Thuan Bridge will become home to cultural centers, recreational facilities and public spaces.

I truly hope the city authorities press ahead with these plans and make this a reality. Combined with the proposed plans for a link to Thu Thiem via a pedestrian bridge and a large riverside park on the other side of the river, the city could make giant strides towards providing genuine recreational areas for citizens.

Plans are just plans however. As the press is reporting, the take off of the 'new urban center' in Thu Thiem is hitting roadblocks with land prices too high, despite 95% of the clearance already having been completed.

Thu Thiem new urban area unattractive to investors.

So, we'll see it (all) when we believe it.

Watch these spaces

Two huge areas of development in District 2 is the 'Saigon Bridge 2' and the first metro line running from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien.

The Saigon Bridge 2 is being built adjacent to the current (and infamous) Saigon Bridge which was, until the recent opening of the Thu Thiem tunnel, the main entry way into the city from Bein Hoa and basically anyone else coming in on Highway 1. The Highway has been dramatically improved through District 9 on towards Bien Hoa with new bridges and widening of the highway. The new Saigon bridge will be one of the final pieces in improving the traffic flow in and out of the city.

The current Saigon Bridge seem from D2

Construction crews on both sides clear the land for the new Bridge 

The Saigon Bridge entering D2, with the unfinished Thao Dien Pearl apartments in the background, which will eventually have a metro station too. 

Artist Impression: 

Further down the road we have the beginning of the construction of a metro line No1. Wikipedia says completion is scheduled for 2015, however we'll go with the Saigon Times article that goes for 2017 and commencement of operation in 2018. So I'll be back here in 6 years time to write a review of my first ride on the Saigon metro. I hope. 

Looking at the area of construction adjacent to highway 1

Saigon Updates August 2012

Site of MapleTree Vietnam in Phu My Hung, a $200 million dollar project:

'The One HCMC', another BiTexco project, looks set to once again redefine the city skyline. Two towers, the tallest at 55 floors.

The architectural design has a cultural context as it refers to the Vietnamese myth of the Two Dragons. The podium represents the coiled tails, while the two dragons rise from the land. The cantilevered tops represent the dragon's heads. The glass cubes are figurative depictions of Vietnamese pearls in the mouths of the dragons.


The 25 floor Vietinbank Tower on the corner of Nam Ky Khoi Nghia and Ham Nghi.

March 2010:

Today:

Thu Thiem tunnel:

Inside (taken whilst driving)

From Thu Thiem to the D4 and D7 ports.

Diamond Island nearing completion. Looks just like it does in the promo.

The mind boggling wealth of the Saigon elite is outlined once again by this project. This extract taken from this Saigon Times Online article.

The project has around 30 yacht berths besides some 1,000 high-class condos priced up to millions of U.S. dollars each. A representative of the company said half of the berths will serve the Marina Club and the investor is offering 15 berths for private use. The highest price is US$500,000 for yachts from 25-27 meters long. Nguyen Kim Son, business and marketing manager of the project, said 11 homebuyers have registered to buy the berths although many of them have yet to own a yacht.

Development Updates

Some development updates from around Saigon this morning.

This was taken December 2010 - Sunrise city




And this morning:

Good luck to anyone who wants to live in this place. What a rabbit hutch, and on an awful road connecting District 1/4 with District 7. 






So the Saigon Skyline is changing once again thanks to the M&C tower which will be 195 meters tall. 
This was taken in April 2010: 

And this morning: 

Heading into D1, damn traffic! 


Time Square is finally finished on Nguyen Hue. 
Old and new: 
The M&C Tower with BiTexaco in the background

Now back in Phu My Hung for a minute. 
Royal Tower, Nguyen Luong Bang, Phu My Hung D7 - May 2011

And this morning:

And finally, the 'business district' of Phu My Hung is slowly forming - this is the area behind the SECC and the Paragon. 
From March 2010

And this morning: 
Yes, it's a beautiful day in Saigon.

Back to blogging

Last posted at the end of July! A near 2 month hiatus is not what you'll read in any blogging manual as a good idea. I've been too busy recovering from my 40km round trip to school everyday to post I think, considering that road has literally disintegrated. The Phu My bridge company, I discovered, were the first private company to have their loan guaranteed by the government. They are now nearly bankrupt and have no money to repair the road and are requesting 250 billion dong to do so. It's symbolic in some ways of the problems of the entire country. You have the sparkling Phu My Bridge, a foreign managed project, in still perfect condition - what should be a symbol of Vietnam propelling itself into the 'future' in terms of improving its infrastructure. Then you reach the other side and my, are you back in the dark ages. Private companies have now twice come along and dumped gravel in the potholes, the road is literally impassable for heavy trucks, although they are still trying.

Talking of infrastructure, the Thu-Thiem highway is yet to open because the tunnel is still not ready, although it seems to be close. Last I heard was a June opening. Although there are some obvious problems here - the same stretch of road that leads to the TT highway and onwards through the tunnel to District 1 is also the road to Cat Lai port which in the afternoons can be jammed solid with HGVs. Add to this traffic coming off the highway to enter the city center you have tailbacks into District 9 and complete gridlock. Work is on going on the Thanh My Loi road leading from Thu Thiem to Cat Lai (road being widened into 4 lanes) but at the moment this road too is falling apart from all the wet weather and construction.

Over on the Hanoi Highway land clearance has started for line 1 of the HCMC Metro system. The line will run over the Saigon River beside the Saigon Bridge and follow the highway from there down. For those who know the area, this is the old Petrol Station on the corner of Thao Dien...




And looking up the highway towards District 9, this is where the Metro line will run next to the highway.




Planning to bring more pictures soon of construction and infrastructure developments and of course regular happenings from the 'gon.

Building a Road

Here are some pics from land clearance going on in District 2 where the road from Thu Thiem highway to Cat Lai port is being widened to four lanes, which will certainly ease container traffic which can be an absolute nightmare. Probably won't ease the lives of the people's whose homes had to be knocked down to make way for it though...




A small cemetery and group of banana trees revealed:




These shacks won't be surviving too long:




House turned to rubble:




Family is still hanging on to condemned building here:




Huge portions of new drainage system scattered over freshly cleared land




I can't imagine the heartache of having to leave your house. Some of these families have probably been there for generations and now have to accept a small apartment in a totally new part of town. I wish I could take a translator and speak to some of these people to find out their stories....but also don't really want to put my nose where it doesn't belong.

Mui Ne in 3 hours by 2015?

Plug in 'Mui Ne' and 'Ho Chi Minh City' to Google Maps 'get directions' and it shows a distance of 223km, with a modest estimate of 3 hours 50 minutes. I'm not sure if the Google Maps algorithm includes calculations for getting out of District 1 and over the Saigon Bridge, or passing through Bien Hoa. I have done the journey in 4 hours straight, door to door, Mui Ne to Phu My Hung. That's pretty good going and only due to a relatively easy passage through Bien Hoa and private transport. Those taking the bus need to start out in the heart of the city and the journey usually takes 5 hours minimum - a less than amusing time-to-distance ratio. That's an average of 44 kilometres an hour. I'd say the average for the first two hours (HCMC-Bien Hoa) is 30 kmph.

Any frequent road traveller will tell that once you are past Bien Hoa it's fairly good going, allbeit on a dangerous single lane road, but no gridlock. It's a 124km dash through ever less densely populated countryside until you approach Phan Thiet city. One of the wonders of the modern world is how there isn't a bypass of BH city, as currently all traffic has no option but to crawl through the city centre.

Come to the rescue, new Long Thanh International Airport and associated infrastructure project Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Day Expressway. The first phase of the new airport should be underway now and *should be* completed in 2015. The express way, according to this document from the Asia Development Bank:

comprises construction of approximately 51 kilometers of four-lane, tolled expressway. The expressway will commence at the junction of the Second Ring Road in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), and end at a junction with National Highway 1 at Dau Giay, Dong Nai Province. It will provide a direct connection from the center of HCMC to economic growth areas in provinces to the north of HCMC along National Highway 1, which connects HCMC to Hanoi. The expressway will be a toll road, with access initially restricted to three locations: the intersection with the Second Ring Road, the intersection with National Highway 51 at the southern end of Long Thanh town, and at Dau Giay. The Project includes construction of a major new 1,700-meter bridge over the Dong Nai River at Long Thanh, and two rest and service areas

So, having looked on the map, the new highway should cut a path directly south of Bein Hoa and link up with Highway 1A on the other side of the airport. This also means the journey to Mui Ne will be significantly cut, probably to around 3 hours. Great, great news..for some time in the next ten years...!


View HCMC-Dau Giay Expressway in a larger map

Development Update Phu My Hung Area Dec 2010

Once again I had the sudden urge to drive around for three hours taking pictures of vacant plots of land and half-finished buildings. I have no idea what it is that holds my interest in development. Maybe its that back home, everything was already finished. Nothing new was ever built in my town. To see a city of millions of people literally exploding at the seems, the buildings spouting out of the ground along once deserted roads, is strangely satisfying.

Riverside Residence has finished Phase One completion (check the photos from the official PMH website).

.
Not to be confused, River Park Residence is also progressing quickly, here seen on its waterfront location looking back into Phu My Hung.


Here's the progress at Sunrise City...





There is a vast area of land just to the south of Sunrise City ready for development.



Where it looks like it's really going to explode however is in the planned 'new financial and business district'. This picture shows land cleared and ready behind the SECC.



Just down the road is the new Star Hill, which looks huge. Here's a video of 3D rendering.



According to the Phu My Hung website, Star Hill covers 20,000m2 and will have 14 buildings varying between 4 to 18 stories, with a total of around 350 apartments. It's just broken ground.









Very close to here is another huge project being readied to start is Riviera Point, seperated from Phu My Hung by the Ca Cam river. According to Keppel Land who are building the thing -

This 2,400-unit waterfront development features residential towers above a shopping arcade. A high-end retail and restaurant belt runs along the 500-m river promenade offering residents alfresco dining choices. A full array of recreational facilities coupled with 24-hour security and full power backup make Riviera Point a choice home.

I am little bit put off by it's close proximity to the overpass that runs from Nguyen Van Linh to the Phu My bridge.






Some of the site clearance for Riviera point revealed the 'back garden' of an army barracks, with some missiles (now removed) on show.

Also in this area is Southern Palace. More apartments...




In between all of this madness is a sorry bunch of flooded shacks, awaiting the day they too get cleared for immensely rich people to live in ridiculously over-priced apartments.






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