Work to upgrade the only waterway linking Ho Chi Minh City with the Mekong Delta will begin in March, the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration said Thursday.
Dredging and expanding the Cho Gao Canal in Tien Giang Province and building embankments is estimated to cost around VND4.2 trillion (US$ 225 million).
Around 2,000 houses and public buildings, including the office of the Cho Gao District People’s Committee, will be pulled down for the purpose.
The work is expected to be completed in 2014.
The 28.5km long, 80m wide Cho Gao Canal was dug in 1877 by the French and has been in use since the 1900s.
According to the administration, the heavy traffic in the canal caused waves that battered the banks and caused landslides, particularly in the rainy season.
An estimated 1,800 vessels with a capacity of up to 1,000 DWT pass on it every day, the administration said.
Frequently, motorbikes fall into the canal while driving past due to the erosion of the banks.
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