HANOI, July 1 (Engineering Daily) -- At present, 60 per cent of HCM City floods at high tide - and 70 per cent of HCM City land is sinking. Different to Hanoi, the flood only occurs in the rainy season, it happens often, at any time in Ho Chi Minh City. The main reason for inundation is expected as flood-tide. However, before 1990, the city was not flooded even the stormy rain and flood-tide occurred from Dong Nai and Sai Gon river. So, where is the cause?
As can be seen, raising of sea level and high tide impact negatively on the inundation, but the tendency of urban development to the south (weak and low land) and the spontaneous development along Saigon upstream river banks (disappearance of thousands hectares of water contained area), as well as the urbanization of the edge of city (used to be used for cultivation purposes) are the main causes of flooding in Ho Chi Minh City.
Climate change, urbanization, and higher tides on lower lands all make flooding an important challenge for the city. In order to prevent the flooding, the city has to implement more anti-flooding projects what require a big capital to build.
On 26 June 2016, the Prime Minister, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Secretary of Ho Chi Minh city Party Committee, Mr. Dinh La Thang and leaders of Ministries and Departments attended the ground breaking ceremony of the anti-flooding project to control tidal flooding and chronic flooding
The construction project will cost VND10 trillion (US$450 million) with build-operate-transfer (BOT) project financing. The goals of the project are to control tidal flooding and to cope with climate change within the 570 square km of HCM City for its population of 6.5 million.
Around 7.8 km of dyke will be built along the Saigon River. The project will be carried out over three years and will end in 2018. Around 300 households with 1,500 people must be removed for the construction. The project is intended to solve tidal flooding and urban flooding.
At the ceremony, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the project is of great significance to the development of the city. The city needs to develop good infrastructure, particularly flood control facilities, to realize its long-term development goals, according to the PM.
The HCM City’s anti-flooding master plan, which was approved by former Primer Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last year, is divided into two parts: urban drainage and controlling tidal flooding.
