Riverside urban renewal: Dong Nai moves to curb land speculation

Nguyen Huu Canh Boulevard has been identified by Dong Nai City as one of the key infrastructure corridors for shaping a new development space along the Dong Nai River. The project is intended to translate into action the goals and development vision set out in Resolution No. 16-NQ/TW, issued by the Politburo on July 21, 2026, on the construction and development of Dong Nai City through 2035, with a vision to 2065.

An artist’s impression of Nguyen Huu Canh Boulevard connecting with the riverside road network, creating opportunities for the development of ecological urban areas

Alongside investment in the boulevard itself, land surrounding the route will be acquired, reorganized, and redeveloped for urban, service, and financial functions, creating additional space and resources for development. The city's position is clear: land speculation must not be allowed to delay site clearance or obstruct the redevelopment of the riverside urban area.

A new boulevard, a strategic development corridor along the Dong Nai River

Dong Nai is making a major shift away from an urban development model primarily centered on existing transport routes toward one that capitalizes on the advantages of the Dong Nai River corridor. Under Resolution No. 16-NQ/TW of July 21, 2026, the city is required to adopt a new approach to development and long-term urban planning. The river system and surrounding natural ecosystems are envisioned as the city's main landscape framework, with the Dong Nai River playing a central role in ecology, culture, urban landscapes, and urban development.

Within this vision, Nguyen Huu Canh Boulevard is considered one of the city's key infrastructure projects. Formerly known as Huong Lo 2 Road, the route begins at National Highway 51 and connects with the Ho Chi Minh City–Long Thanh–Dau Giay Expressway. It will extend approximately 15.5 kilometers and have a planned width of 60 meters, passing through Long Hung and Tam Phuoc wards and An Phuoc Commune. The route is planned to run along the Dong Nai River and connect via the Vam Cai Sut Bridge. In recognition of the project's scale and significance, the City People's Council issued a resolution officially renaming Huong Lo 2 Road as Nguyen Huu Canh Boulevard.

An artist’s impression of the interchange linking Nguyen Huu Canh Boulevard with the Ho Chi Minh City–Long Thanh–Dau Giay Expressway.

A distinctive feature of the project is that its planning scope is not limited to the land required for the road itself. The city will reorganize all surrounding land to create a modern urban space and establish service, financial, and commercial zones, thereby improving land utilization efficiency and mobilizing local resources for reinvestment.

Experience has shown that major infrastructure projects often generate significant increases in land value on both sides of a route. If authorities clear only enough land to build the road while allowing surrounding areas to develop in a fragmented and uncoordinated manner, much of that added value can become dispersed and difficult to convert into capital for broader development. Dong Nai's approach is therefore to build the road while simultaneously reorganizing land reserves and clearly defining the function of each area. This is expected to achieve three goals at once: completing an integrated transport network, maintaining strict control over urban planning and architecture, and making efficient use of land resources to generate capital for future investment.

Once completed, the boulevard is expected to significantly reduce travel times, improve connectivity between areas, and unlock substantial potential for urban and service-sector development, particularly along its riverside frontage and through integrated transport links.

“Under National Assembly Resolution No. 254/2025/QH15 dated December 11, 2025, compensation for agricultural land is calculated based on the land price schedule under Resolution No. 28/2025/NQ-HDND, multiplied by the land price adjustment coefficient set out in Decision No. 03/2026/QD-UBND. Accordingly, the average agricultural land price in Long Hung and Tam Phuoc wards and An Phuoc Commune is approximately VND3 billion per hectare. In addition to land compensation, eligible households may also be considered for support to stabilize their livelihoods and production, change occupations, seek employment, and access other support policies. Eligible households that comply with requirements to hand over the site may also be considered for relocation bonuses under the approved plan.”

Diep Truong Vu, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment

The legal groundwork for the project has now been completed. The City People's Committee approved the land acquisition, compensation, support, and resettlement plan under Decision No. 1608/QD-UBND dated April 22, 2026. The scope of land acquisition and compensation rates have been publicly and transparently defined. Agricultural land in Long Hung and Tam Phuoc wards and An Phuoc Commune is valued at an average of approximately VND3 billion per hectare, based on the land price schedule under Resolution No. 28/2025/NQ-HDND and the land price adjustment coefficients set out in Decision No. 03/2026/QD-UBND. In addition to land compensation, eligible households may also be considered for support policies to stabilize their livelihoods, change occupations and seek employment, as well as bonuses for handing over the site on schedule.

Curbing speculation, accelerating compensation and site clearance

Expectations that land prices will rise as infrastructure develops have turned the project area into a target for land accumulation and speculation by some investors.

Once completed, Nguyen Huu Canh Boulevard will form a modern transport corridor, with three main traffic lanes on each side and two parallel lanes on each side.

Most of the land in the project area is agricultural land, but much of it is no longer under cultivation and, in some cases, has been left idle. This has added complexity to site clearance, as the impact on households directly dependent on agricultural production differs significantly from that on those who purchased land primarily in anticipation of future price increases.

“Households directly engaged in agricultural production face genuine impacts on their livelihoods. In speculative cases, however, land is primarily treated as an investment, purchased in anticipation of price increases and future gains. Applying the full range of support policies equally to both groups would not be consistent with the purpose of those policies or with the State's policy of supporting people directly engaged in agricultural production.”

Nguyen Thi Nhu Y, City Party Committee member, Secretary of the Long Hung Ward Party Committee, Chairwoman of the Ward People's Council

Since information about planning in the area and investment in Nguyen Huu Canh Boulevard was announced, some outsiders have reportedly moved in to buy land, act as brokers, and inflate prices, creating public order concerns in several locations. In some cases, large groups have gathered and circulated unverified information in an effort to fuel expectations of sharp increases in land prices. The situation has affected the lives of local residents and created additional challenges for land management and project implementation. In response, Dong Nai City has made its position clear: the legitimate rights and interests of people whose land is acquired will be fully protected, but land speculation will not be allowed to delay site clearance or hinder the city's broader urban renewal process.

City People's Committee leaders have therefore instructed relevant agencies to carefully review the origin, management history, use, and actual conditions of each land parcel and land user during the acquisition process. Only those who are directly engaged in agricultural production, derive income from farming, and meet all eligibility requirements will be considered for support policies covering livelihood and production stabilization, occupational transition, and job seeking. Those who do not meet the requirements will receive compensation and other benefits only to the extent permitted under applicable regulations.

Properly distinguishing between these groups is intended to ensure fairness in the implementation of public policy. If a person purchases agricultural land for speculative purposes but still receives the full range of assistance available to a farmer who must relocate and change their livelihood, this would undermine social fairness. Public funds, therefore, will not be used to provide occupational transition support to those who do not genuinely need it. Households that depend on agricultural production for their livelihoods are the group facing the most direct and long-term impact.

Land speculation aimed at profiting from anticipated planning-driven price increases is placing additional pressure on the site clearance process. Some speculative landowners are waiting for higher compensation prices, which could put further pressure on compensation efforts and prolong the handover of land. Authorities view this as a major bottleneck that must be addressed promptly and decisively to ensure the timely development of riverside urban areas and other key city projects.

For cases involving speculative landholding, abandoned land, failure to use agricultural land, or a lack of agreement to hand over land, authorities will continue public outreach, dialogue, and efforts to ensure that the lawful rights of affected land users are fully resolved in accordance with regulations.

At the same time, competent agencies will carry out land acquisition in accordance with all legal procedures. Once the legitimate rights and interests of affected land users have been fully addressed and outreach and dialogue efforts have been exhausted, the city may enforce land acquisition decisions, in accordance with its legal authority, if land users still refuse to comply.

This means that while the State will fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of land users, speculative activity and attempts to wait for higher prices will not be allowed to delay or paralyze projects serving the public interest and the city's development.
 

The route alignment and current land use around Nguyen Huu Canh Boulevard in Dong Nai City. Photo: Google Maps

The earlier the city can secure land reserves, the greater its capacity to organize urban space and shape future development. From this perspective, Nguyen Huu Canh Boulevard and other major projects can be seen as reflecting Dong Nai's new approach to organizing urban development space in line with the guiding principles, objectives, and tasks assigned to the city under Resolution No. 16.

The overall approach is to provide fair and adequate protection for people whose land is acquired, particularly households directly engaged in farming and dependent on agricultural land for their livelihoods. At the same time, the city is determined to draw a clear distinction between genuine agricultural producers and those who acquire or accumulate land for speculative purposes while waiting for prices to rise.

Successfully addressing this issue would lay the foundation for Dong Nai City to organize its development space more effectively in an open, flexible, multi-centered, multi-polar, and multi-layered manner, while ensuring close coordination among planning, strategic infrastructure, and land resources. This would help accelerate urban restructuring and renewal, improve land-use efficiency, generate resources for reinvestment in infrastructure, and gradually strengthen Dong Nai's role as a new growth pole with strong competitiveness and spillover effects across regions and the country.

By H.L.,T.M. – Translated by Mai Nga, Minho