The project was initiated before the capital’s expansion, so it included 40 kilometres of the Red River belonging to the old city. Now, the expanded city encompasses 180km of the river, which would overwhelm developers, so they will stick to the original plan.

Pham Quang Nghi, secretary of the Hanoi Communist Party Committee, said the project’s main goals were to secure the city against floods and develop the Red River banks into a modern urban zone that would contribute to the city’s socio-economic and environmental targets.

Land clearance and resettlements would be the biggest challenges for the project and Nghi asked relevant agencies to actively implement solutions to address these challenges. “Research needs to be conducted on existing areas so that renovation can be implemented, along with reconstruction, and so that relevant sites can be kept intact and the number of households needing to be moved can be reduced,” he said.

According to the latest estimation, 39,100 households will need to be removed from the zone. The project plans to provide 97,000 new accommodations by the time it is completed in 2020, with 70 per cent for sale. Some 29,000 of the removed households may eventually be resettled within the area.

To Anh Tuan, director of Hanoi’s Department of Zoning and Architecture, said that the city would sign an agreement with South Korea’s Seoul City to obtain help in devising a detailed project plan. The plan would be submitted to the National Appraisal Council and await approval by the prime minister and the National Assembly.

The total area for the project is about 4,200 hectares, with 80 per cent for restoring and maintaining the river’s environment. The rest will be used for office buildings, houses, apartments and other public constructions. Environmental components of the project will include parks, green areas, natural reserves and ecological tourism areas.