Many infrastructure works need to be carried out to resolve the flooding and traffic problems that have beset HCM City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

But the Department of Transport has said in a proposal it submitted to the People’s Committee that five of them need to be prioritised to ease congestion outside the airport. 

It has sought permission to immediately begin work on two of the projects: a Y-shaped flyover linking Trường Sơn Street with the airport and another at the Nguyen Thai Son Street – Nguyen Kiem Street intersection in Go Vap District. 

The two will together cost VNĐ1.275 trillion (US$57 million). 

The other priority projects are upgrading and widening of Phú Nhuận District’s Hoang Minh Giam Street and Tan Binh’s Hoang Hoa Tham and Cong Hoa streets. 

The department said as soon as the project designs are approved the committee should allow it to begin work, pay the contractors 50 per cent of the cost in advance and quickly compensate land owners to speed up the works. 

It also called on the administration to acquire 2,300 metres of land on Nguyen Kiem and Nguyen Thai Son Street from the Ministry of Defence for one of the flyovers and 1,263 metres on Hoang Hoa Tham and Cong Hoa Street for one of the road works. 

According to the department, Truong Son Street, which connects the airport with Tan Binh, Binh Thanh, Go Vap, and Thu Duc districts, has become overloaded. 

Since many works have been planned to tackle the worsening traffic congestion around the airport, prioritising the most urgent ones will help ease traffic better rather than carrying them out all at once. 

Inside the airport, severe inundation often affects flights, like it did on August 26 and September 11. 

Due to the heavy rain and airport’s poor drainage system, the inundation is inevitable. 

According to Tuoi Tre News, there are three drainage systems carrying water to nearby canals. One of them, draining the runways, carries the water to A41 Trench. But a part of the trench has been encroached upon and filled with earth by locals, causing the airport to flood. 

Authorities have carried out some temporary measures like pumping the water out to tackle the flooding, both inside and outside the airport. 

While A41 Trench is being dredged, seven drains have been added along it to more efficiently drain the airport. 

An upgrade of the Nhat Ban Canal’s section from the airport to Nguyen Kiem Street has begun and is expected to be completed by September end. 

Work on the 1.8km Hy Vong Canal will begin next year and be completed in 2019. 

VNS