Roads flooded due to incomplete antiflood projects

The center stated in a recent report that the municipal government is striving to resolve 40 flooded sites in the downtown center and 175 sites elsewhere by 2020.

The city has so far resolved problems at 22 of the 40 flooded sites. Next on the list are 15 sites on 15 inner-city streets.

The center noted that two flooded hotspots on National Highways 1 and 13 in Thu Duc District and one on Ho Hoc Lam Street in Binh Tan District will be tackled after 2020 since work on infrastructure projects to expand National Highway 13 and develop the city’s second ring road is expected to get off the ground soon.

Many roads have been heavily inundated since the start of the monsoon as work on many antiflood projects has fallen behind schedule, or has not started yet, according to the center.

For example, a major flood tide control project worth nearly VND10 trillion (US$427 million), developed by Trung Nam Group, is in desperate need of available land to continue construction activities.

The firm’s general director, Nguyen Tam Tien, confirmed that work on the project is 80% complete. However, some districts, such as 4, 7, 8, Nha Be and Binh Chanh, have not fully handed over the necessary sites.

These district-level authorities have pledged to hand over the land to the developer before the end of June. If they do not, according to Tien, the project will not be finished this year as expected.

The city government has recently approved an antiflood project, located on Nguyen Huu Canh Street, which will upgrade the surface of the street and the systems of drainage and lighting. The project, which costs an estimated VND473 billion (US$20.2 million), will be finished after 14 months of construction.

Irrigation experts stated that even if the VND10-trillion antiflood project is completed as scheduled, the city would still face heavy flooding due to separate irregular investments.