Foreign planners cautious of Hiep Phuoc port-urban area
By Kinh Luan - The Saigon Times Daily
|
| Richard G. Little, director of the Keston Institute for Public Finance & Infrastructure Policy at the University of Southern California, talks about development issues in HCMC's District 6 during the forum - Photo: Kinh Luan |
HCMC – Foreign experts who have much experience in the field of urban planning have advised HCMC authorities to give a second thought to a project to develop a major satellite town in Hiep Phuoc Ward in Nha Be District.
Speaking at the closing session on Wednesday of a four-day forum on urban planning and development responses to climate change, they said the city would 
spend heavily to reinforce the weak, sinking foundation in the planned Hiep Phuoc Ports and Urban Area.
Pacific Rim Council on Urban Development (PRCUD) senior advisor Cor Dijkgraaf and University of Southern California’s professor Eric Heikkila said much capital would go to construction of flood-control dikes.
“You can choose another place to develop the satellite town, not Hiep Phuoc,” said Heikkita. Meanwhile, Dijgraaf stressed the expected population of 180,000 in the port urban area would be so huge for a place like Hiep Phuoc.
The port urban area is one of five components which have been approved by the Central Government for development in the Southern Key Economic Zone.
Also at the “Urban Planning & Development Responses to Climate Change: Adaptation and Mitigation” forum organized by HCMC and PRCUD, Douglas Webster at University of California Berkeley touched on the planning and development in District 6, another theme of the forum.
The advisor to East Asian governments on urbanization worried about the lack of absorbent ground. “Up to 98% of the ground which can be used for construction have been used for concrete works, while rows of buildings and houses like dikes hinder the drainage.”