Vietnam HCM City Seeking to Cope with Serious Waterlogging

The Southern Institute of Water Resources Research (SIWRR) has held a conference to discuss measures against serious waterlogging in Ho Chi Minh City, the Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper reported Nov 3. The institute said that Ho Chi Minh City has been coping with waterlogging since as many as 60% areas of the 2,095-square kilometer city are low-lying and it has an interlacing network of canals with a length of 7,880 kilometers. Participants proposed several solutions to waterlogging reduction, including building dyke systems in Hiep Phuoc and Binh Khanh, flood-resilient sewers and drains in canals and areas along the rivers of Sai Gon, Nha Be and Vam Co Dong and Dong Nai. These systems will lower water levels at tide peaks and hasten drainages, participants said. Chairman of the HCM City Irrigation Science Association Nguyen An Nien said the city’s submergence problems could be ended if dikes and the 12 major flood control dams along the Saigon and Nha Be Rivers have been built by 2020 under its approved anti-flood plan. Nien added although the government had approved the VND11.5 trillion plan in 2008, it remains in the preparatory stage and the plan’s investment will need to be doubled to VND20 trillion due to rising prices of construction materials. Under the plan, a total of 12 dams are expected to be build on an area of one million hectares, include Phu Xuan, Muong Chuoi, Song Kinh, Kinh Lo, Thu Bo, Kenh Hang, Rach Tra, Vam Thuat, Ben Nghe, Tan Thuan Ben Luc and Xang Lon Canal. (Sai Gon Giai Phong – Saigon Liberation Nov 3 p3, Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon – Saigon Economic Times Daily Nov 3 p2)