The HCM City government has ordered the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to take measures to curb environmental pollution.

Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said some major tasks such as finding investors for urban wastewater treatment plants should be accomplished immediately.

Canals and ditches should be dredged and their flows cleared to reduce flooding, he said.

The system of classifying household rubbish should be introduced, he said.

The city faces pollution from wastewater, solid waste, fumes and noise at many spots, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. 

Many industrial establishments are situated in residential areas and release untreated.

Binh Chanh is one such district.  

It has 497 production establishments that cause pollution and pose a high threat of fire and explosion, according to the district’s People’s Committee.

The district also has industrial parks and clusters and treatment of waste at these places too leaves a lot to be desired.

Many companies do have waste treatment facilities but they still illegally release their wastewater into the environment.

According to Nguyen Thi Thanh My, deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the city generates up to 8,000cu.m of solid waste daily.

Of this amount, 76 per cent is buried, 14.7 per cent is recycled and the rest is burnt to generate electricity.

The number of rubbish collection points – from where they are taken to garbage dumps -- is not enough and those there do not operate efficiently. Of the 31 collection points, only five meet required standards.

Mỹ said that the city should focus on waste treatment technologies that are appropriate for it and gradually reduce burial of solid waste.

There are two solid waste treatment plants, one each in Binh Chanh and Cu Chi districts.

The city also has two wastewater treatment plants and plans to build 10 more.

Canals encroached

On Wednesday the city’s People’s Committee deputy chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen inspected illegal encroachment of canals and drainage systems in districts 7 and Nha Be.

Inspecting the Ong Doi and Ba Buom canals in District 7 and Rach No Canal in Nha Be, he found drainage systems both illegally encroached and blocked at both ends.

"If the encroachment of drainage systems is prevented, the city can fix at least 50 per cent of its flooding problems," he said.

As of July there were 59 construction works across the city that encroached on water drainage sluices, according to the city Steering Centre of Urban Flood Control Programme.

Tuyến ordered the District 7 and Nhà Bè District administrations to clear illegal encroachments to ensure proper water drainage and regularly maintain their drainage systems.

He told the District 7 People’s Committee to draft plans to relocate some 2,000 households encroaching on canals by the end of this year.

The city has nearly 20,000 such households.

It would relocate all of them by 2020 and had earmarked funds for this, Tuyen said.

"The target is for all canals in the city to be restored," he added. 

VNS