Instead of developing the city to the East-Northeastern direction, with its higher topography, HCM City chose the opposite direction. As a result, flooding in the city is getting more serious.

Instead of developing the city to the East-Northeastern direction, with its higher topography, HCM City chose the opposite direction. Many new residential areas have been built in southern Nha Be area, where there were reservoirs in the past. As a result, flooding in Saigon is getting more serious.

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This is the opinion of many construction experts, which they presented at a May 25 meeting to seek solutions to prevent flooding in HCM City.

HCM City is located downstream of the Dong Nai-Saigon river system, so it is nicknamed “city flooded by tides”. Low areas accounts for up to 61 percent of the city, which has nearly 7900km of canals. The major way for discharging flood water is North-Northwest-Northeast and South-Southeast-Southwest directions.

“The more modern urban areas expand in South Saigon, Binh Chanh, Nha Be and District 7, the more the city’s water discharging channel is hindered,” noted Prof. Le Huy Ba.

Phu My Hung new residential area is located in a low-lying area that hosted natural lakes in the past. Meanwhile, Nha Be and District 7 – the major sewage channel – are being powerfully urbanized, resulting in the disappearance of many canals.

HCM City has nearly 700 rivers and canals but 47 of them, totaling more than 16 hectares, were filled from 1990 to 2004. Districts 8 and 6 are heavily flooded owing to urbanization in South Saigon area.

Some pointed to HCM City’s mistakes in construction. “In 1954-1975, experts proposed the city to develop toward high-lying areas in the East-Northeast direction and not to the South – Nha Be – Can Gio because this area is sunken and has a weak foundation,” observed Bach Anh Tuan from Ton Duc Thang University.

“Why does the city develop new residential areas in the lower regions?” questioned former director of the Institute for Hydrometeorology, Pham Van Hoach.

Many analysts maintained that the factors causing floods in HCM City are made by humans, such as fast urbanization and ineffective construction plans. Consequently, flooding is more serious. The city now has 163 flooded places in its 24 districts.

Experts advised that, besides ongoing flood prevention projects, the city needs to take more urgent measures. “The city should ban filling up canals and build reservoirs to contain the volume of water that is not discharged immediately after downpours,” suggested Ba.

They also proposed to restrict construction of high-rise building in the southeastern area. Tuan suggested having green areas in residential areas where rain water can absorb into the ground.

“If the city doesn’t make immediate changes, we will have to sit here to discuss measures against flooding in the future,” Hoach concluded.

Some ongoing flood prevention projects in HCM City:

1. Comprehensive plan on water drainage for HCM City to 2020, which was approved by the Government in 2001 to upgrade and build the city’s drainage system and repair the current canals and reservoirs to improve the drainage capacity of canal systems.

2. Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe environmental hygiene project to dredge and expand the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal, build the canal embankment and treat water before it runs to the canal.

3. Project to upgrade the residential area along Tan Hoa-Lo Gom canal to deal with pollution in this canal.

4. Project to improve the environment of Tau Hu-Ben Nghe-Kenh Doi-Kenh Te and Hang Bang canals to improve the drainage system in this area.

PV