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Tourists sightsee by boat along the Sai Gon River. HCM City will set up new waterway routes for tourism and later for public transit upon the completion of the dredging of major canals. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hai
HCM CITY (VNS)— Waterway routes for tourists as well as residents will be set up in HCM City as soon as the dredging and widening of the city's major canals are completed.
The city has nearly 8,000 km of rivers and canals, accounting for 17 per cent of the city's total area, according to the Department of Transport.
Luong Minh Phuc, director of the city's investment management board for Urban Traffic Works, said the dredging of the Tau Hu – Ben Nghe and Doi – Te canals would be completed soon.
Initially, the waterway routes will be set up for tourism and later for public transport. The tourism route will connect with Vo Van Kiet Road to elevated roads that will be built in the future.
A tourism route on Tau Hu – Ben Nghe Canal is currently being created by the city, which is planting trees and designing along the canal.
Tran The Ky, deputy director of the Transport Department, said the city would open a waterway route on the canal when the dredging of Tau Hu – Ben Nghe Canal is completed by the end of this year.
The heights of bridges on the canal meet the transport safety regulations for boats.
The canal will become an important waterway transport route as it will link rivers and canals running to the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, the country's largest rice, fruit and seafood producer.
The route will run on the Sai Gon River, Vam Thuan River, Nuoc Len Canal, Doi and Te Canal to the Ben Luc River in the Cuu Long Delta province of Long An.
The aim is to help reduce pressure on road transport to and from HCM City and the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta.
The city has also been conducting research on three inland waterway routes that will be depart from Nha Rong Wharf in District 4.
The first route will run on the Sai Gon River to the outlying district of Cu Chi, and the second route will run on the Tau Hu – Ben Nghe Canal to outlying Binh Chanh District.
The last route will run on Te Canal to the Cho Dem River intersection in Binh Chanh District.
Of the city's 200 ports and boat stations, the four largest are Sai Gon, Tan Cang, Ben Nghe and Nha Be.
Under the city's plan to develop ports by 2020, the Department of Transport will renovate ports for transporting passengers and goods along the Te Canal.
The department also plans to build several new ports for transporting goods, including the Nhon Duc Port in Nha Be District and Phu Dinh Port in District 8.
In addition, it will turn part of the Sai Gon Port at Nha Rong Wharf and Khanh Hoi Port into small tourism ports, and build an international passenger ship station at Phu Thuan Park in District 7.
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