City to reduce flood-prone sites by 40% this year
By Van Nam - The Saigon Times Daily
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| Motorcyclists wade through a flooded street in HCMC after heavy rain. The city looks to reduce flood-prone areas by 40% this year - Photo: Le Toan |
HCMC – HCMC’s Center for Urban Flood Control will continue work on 11 key projects citywide to reduce flooding by 40%, an official from the center said.
Do Tan Long, head of the center’s Drainage System Management Office, told the Daily that currently, the city has 96 sites vulnerable to rain-triggered flooding and a further 67 due to high tides.
He said in the short term, the center will concentrate on completing some important drainage projects in the Hang Bang area, to the city’s west. There, the center will upgrade the drainage systems of several streets including Chu Van An, Pham Dinh Ho and Cao Van Lau in District 6 and Hung Vung and Hoang Le Kha in Districts 5 and 11.
They will also complete the Phu Lam water pumping station to help control flooding at the Cay Go roundabout, the Tan Hoa-Lo Gom basin, and various other locations.
Long said the streets in the city’s west are most flood-affected, with 63% of HCMC’s floods occurring in these areas.
The project’s total budget was VND390 billion, added to the VND340 billion the city spent last year on flood control.
Earlier this week the government assigned the center to coordinate with both the Department of Transport and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Together they are expected to create a plan to manage floods, pollution and the salinity intrusion in the Saigon River.
According to the center, 200 kilometers of land in the city remains a high flood risk.
In October 2008, the Government approved an irrigation scheme to build 12 sewers and 172 kilometers of embankment along the right side of the Saigon River. VND12 trillion has been invested in the scheme, which will be run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Long An Province and HCMC.
Through the scheme, Long said the center was preparing to build six massive sewers along the Saigon River.
He said the project would be completed by the end of this year, so sewer construction could begin in early 2011.
The sewers will be located along the river basin area of Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe, Song Kinh, Phu Xuan, Van Thuat, Tan Thuan, Rach Tra and Ben Nghe.
However, Long said it was likely the total investment for the scheme would need to be increased three-fold to accommodate construction material price hikes.