Two major roads in Saigon's downtown precinct, Nguyen Hue and Le Loi Sts, face years of disruption following the recent commencement of work on a new metro system and pedestrian strip. While these are both welcome initiatives, the impact on travellers and locals will be serious for several years. Precise details are hard to come by but I'm told that the current disruption looks likely to run for between two and four years. The closure of Nguyen Hue St effectively walls off two sections of the city impairing easy movement by road or on foot. It's difficult to understand why the work couldn't have been staged in a manner that might have reduced disruption. Some accommodation of foot traffic should have been possible. Hotels, travel companies and hundreds of other businesses have been severely impacted with little time to prepare. Meanwhile, the city's heritage standing is copping further blows with the historic Tax Centre (on the right) facing demolition. The Tax Centre's been degraded by a number of renovations. It will be replaced by a forty story tower that will further degrade what has been a picturesque low-rise intersection. Another quaint old building on Le Loi St next to the Tax Centre was destroyed last week. Saigon's no place for nostalgia.
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