VietNamNet Bridge - HCM City’s plan to build water reservoirs to help ease urban flooding still cannot be implemented. The first reservoir would have been built no sooner than the second quarter of 2016.

Water reservoirs and tide embankments are believed to be the best solution to flooding in HCM City. Experts say the reservoirs can contain tens of millions of cubic meters of water which can help ease 30 percent of floods in the city.

The reservoirs could be built as underground reservoirs, while the space over the reservoirs can be used as amusement parks.

The HCM City Climate Change Office announced in March that the first reservoir, covering an area of 4.8 hectares. would be built in 2015 with the investment capital of VND304 billion. The Thu Thiem, Go Dua, Bau Cat reservoirs were also expected to be built this year.

However, in the latest news, the water reservoir project will not kick off this year. A source said the local authorities decided at a meeting recently that the first reservoir would be built no sooner than the second quarter of 2016.

The HCM City Anti-flooding Program Management Center has chosen three places for water reservoirs, Bau Cat in Tan Binh district, Go Dua in Thu Duc and Khanh Hoi in district 4. The Bau Cat reservoir would be built first, slated for the second quarter of 2016, in a pilot program.

This would be a reinforced concrete underground reservoir with a capacity of 10,000 cubic meters of water, thus serving the anti-flooding works for an area of 20 hectares.

Bau Cat, capitalized at VND100 billion, would be built with the city’s budget. If the city succeeds with Bau Cat, it would proceed with other reservoirs.

As for the 23 hectare Go Dua reservoir project, a feasibility study is being done. Meanwhile, obstacles have been arisen with the Khanh Hoi reservoir project, covering an area of 5 hectares, because of problems in site clearance.

Nguyen Hoang Anh Dung, deputy director of the HCM City Anti-flooding Center, said the biggest problem is the lack of a land fund. It is also difficult to choose places in low-lying areas to release the water.

According to Dung, as there are no technical standards for urban reservoirs, the center would have to build a reservoir on a trial basis first before developing a reservoir system on a large scale.

He said he was not sure if Bau Cat reservoir project can begin in the second quarter of 2016 as scheduled since there are still too many problems.

TBKTSG