VietNamNet Bridge – The HCM City People’s Committee has told the Steering Centre of the Urban Flood Control Programme to go ahead and draw up plans to build a reservoir in the outlying district of Cu Chi to prevent flooding there.

Nguyen Huu Canh Street in HCM City’s Binh Thanh District is flooded during rains last October. Building reservoirs to drain water is one of the methods the city plans to use to curb flooding. — Photo: VNA/VNS

The reservoir, on the Ben Muong – Lang The Canal, is expected to be completed not later than 2025.

Besides helping mitigate floods, it will also store water for irrigation and beautifying the landscapes.

The centre has been instructed to upgrade and dredge the canal and improve drainage systems in the area before building the reservoir.

During floods in 1990, 1994 and 2000, the area was inundated and lost fruits and other crops.

Several canals in the district suffer from silt build-ups and so find it hard to cope as urban areas and industrial parks mushroom.

In 2015 the city approved the construction of three large reservoirs in the most flood-prone areas by 2020 at a cost of VND950 billion ($41.9 million).

They are the VND600 billion ($26.4 million) Go Dua reservoir (95ha) in Thu Duc District, the VND300 billion ($13.2 million) Khanh Hoi reservoir in District 4 and the VND50 billion ($2.2 million) Bau Cat Lake in Tan Binh District.

Covering a combined 100 hectares, they would hold millions of cubic metres of water to ease flooding.

VNS