For many years, urban flood control has always been a field that receives very large investment resources not only in Hanoi but also in many localities.
Every year, localities still allocate very large resources from the budget to build regulating lakes, expand drainage culverts, increase pumping station capacity or renovate canals and ditches.
Therefore, people are not only concerned about when flood control projects in their living areas will start, but also want to know how many flooding points will be removed after completion, how effective they will be, and who will be responsible if the progress is slow or the target is not achieved.
In other words, people need to see the positive link between investment money and actual efficiency. That is a completely legitimate concern. And local authorities are responsible for answering people's questions transparently and clearly.
Therefore, the fact that Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Vu Dai Thang said that Hanoi will publicize the roadmap and investment results according to each flood control project, clearly identifying which areas have been overcome, which areas continue to be invested and the completion roadmap for people to supervise is positive information, receiving the attention of a large number of people.
This move shows the direction of strengthening transparency in the management of Hanoi Capital.
When information about the progress of flood control projects is made public, people will no longer have to assess emotionally after each rain, but have a basis to compare between the committed goals and the achieved results.
That is also a way to create positive pressure for investors, construction units and management agencies to improve their responsibility for each project.
In fact, people are the most accurate "sensors" of the city. No one understands which roads are flooded every time it rains, which culverts are often blocked, or which areas have water receding slower than people living there.
When full information is provided, people's supervision will become a valuable data source to help management agencies promptly detect inadequacies in the operation process.
Of course, publicity also needs to go hand in hand with frank and transparent accountability, not formal publicity. If a project is behind schedule, it must be clearly stated to the people why it is behind schedule. If the project's efficiency has not reached expectations, it is necessary to point out the causes and solutions to overcome them in the future...
Of course, publicizing investment results according to each flood control project cannot replace methodical planning or building synchronous infrastructure for urban areas.
Fighting flooding in localities, especially Hanoi Capital, is still a long-term problem, especially in the context of rapid urbanization and increasingly extreme climate change.
But publicizing progress and investment results is a verifiable commitment to the people by the local government. And this publicity is not only for flood control projects.
Traffic projects, waste treatment, environmental improvement or urban embellishment in Hanoi and localities also need a similar public mechanism to strengthen people's trust.
