HCMC is in dire need of nearly VND68 trillion (over US$3 billion) to carry out a slew of urgent flood control projects in the 2016-2020 period to minimize the impact of flooding on the city’s development.

HCMC vice chairman Nguyen Huu Tin told the municipal People’s Council at a meeting on October 27 that the city is the driving force of the national economy, so flooding will cause damage for the city and the country as a whole.

Flood control analyses should focus on natural conditions, the impact of climate change and State management, he said.

HCMC is just one meter higher than sea level on average and surrounded by the Dong Nai, Saigon and Vam Co rivers plus a number of small canals that crisscross the city. This makes it hard for the city to effectively control floods caused by heavy rains and flood tides. If tides are 1.5 meters high, two-thirds of the city would be submerged under water.

There have been more heavy rains in recent years while HCMC’s drainage capacity is limited. The drainage system in the city was designed to serve around 2.5 million people but the city’s current population is 10 million, Tin said, adding that the number does not include non-residents.

He added drainage and flood control works built in the city in the past decade can meet around 10% of the demand and serve as temporary solutions for flood control.

The HCMC Steering Center of the Urban Flood Control Program has drawn up several urgent flood control projects for the next five years. They include upgrading 3,407 kilometers of sewer; dredging 5,017 kilometers of canal; and building 100 reservoirs, 12 wastewater treatment plants, ten sluices, 129 kilometers of dike and 20 kilometers of embankment along the left side of the Saigon River.

The city started to plan reservoirs to reduce floods in the city in 2013 but reports of relevant departments at the meeting showed work on Go Dua, Bau Cat and Khanh Hoi reservoirs has fallen behind schedule.

Nguyen Hoang Anh Dung, deputy director of the center, put the blame on the absence of a legal framework for construction of such flood control reservoirs.

“The center has been able to pick contractors to prepare feasibility studies for Bau Cat and Go Dua reservoirs and has not worked on detailed designs,” Dung said.

Tin said the center should propose measures to break the deadlock in the reservoir projects, instead of complaining.

SGT