Vietnam Capital City Approves $8.38M Lake Upgrading Project

Authorities of Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi have approved a project worth VND160 billion ($8.38 million) to upgrade the Quan Son lake in My Duc district in order to prevent floods, facilitate agriculture and improve environment, the Phap Luat Vietnamnewspaper reported Aug 2. Under the project, the city will upgrade a 13-km embankment system, Duc Mon and Ang Thuong pumping stations and irrigation system for more than 4,220 hectares of farmland in the district. The project is scheduled for implementation between 2011 and 2015, the newspaper added. Seventeen domestic firms have already pledged to fund more than VND300 billion for a project to dredge lakes in Hanoi which are being seriously encroached and polluted. Hanoi now has some 112 lakes covering a total of 1,165 hectares, the highest number of lakes for a capital city in the world.