The Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe, Tau Hu – Ben Nghe and Tan Hoa – Lo Gom canals have been upgraded, but other canals in HCM City, including Hang Bang in district 6, Tham Luong – ben Cat – Rach Nuoc Len and Xuyen Tam in Binh Thanh and Go Vap districts are still polluted.

Garbage and sludge, black water and bad odor are affecting residents along the 19-5 canal which runs across Tan Binh and Tan Phu districts. This is one of the most polluted canals in the western part of HCM City.

“Sunny days are the most miserable days for us,” said Trinh Van, a local woman. “The bad odor from the canal suffocates up. “Flies and mosquitos have been living with us. We sit inside mosquito net to have meals.”

According to the HCM City Western Anti-flood Center, the HCM City western basin includes parts of the districts of Go Vap, Tan Binh, Tan Phu and district 12 with a total area of 2,550 hectares. The total population in the area is expected to reach 550,000 by 2025. 

In order to get rid of pollution in the basin, it is necessary to build a wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 150,000 cubic meters per day.

The plant is expected to cost VND1.685 trillion, or $80 million, according to an official of the HCM City Transport Department.

Meanwhile, to clean the canals in the northern part of HCM City, where the population is expected to reach 550,000 by 2020, and wastewater capacity of 127,000 cubic meters per day, a wastewater treatment plant will be built on an area of 2,324 hectares with estimated capital of $265 million.

The project to upgrade the Tan Hoa – Lo Gom canal, completed in late April 30, has helped upgrade the living environment of millions of people. However, it is still necessary to build a wastewater treatment plant in the area, and it needs a budget of $300 million.

There is only one operational large-scale wastewater treatment plant in HCM City, the Binh Hung Plant in Binh Chanh District.

With a capacity of 141,000 cubic meters per day, the plant can only collect and treat 6 percent of the city’s wastewater. In order to raise the treatment capacity to 469,000 cubic meters per day, the city’s authorities have decided to expand the plant. The second phase of the project, estimated to cost $128 million, kicked off in February 2015.

Mai Thanh