Heavy rain for half an hour is flooding
Responding to Lao Dong reporter, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Vinh - Standing Deputy Secretary of the Da Nang City Party Committee - frankly admitted that flooding is a big challenge that needs to be solved if Da Nang wants to achieve the goal of becoming the smartest, most livable city in the country by 2030.
Many flood prevention and drainage projects, sewers, and underground cables under construction are not complete and have not been connected, so there is a situation where the water surface above the water flows but the sewers are dry. The city is directing units to urgently complete the problem to overcome it.
"It is impossible for a livable city to be flooded with thunderstorms of about half an hour" - Mr. Vinh emphasized.
For a long time, households living around Me Suot Street (Hoa Khanh Ward, Da Nang) have been used to the scene of "need a heavy rain for about 1-2 hours, the water was up to the edge of the house". Daily life is turned upside down, people are always in a worried mood every time the weather changes.
Not only low-lying areas such as Me Suot Street, according to statistics from the Da Nang Department of Construction, the whole city currently has 124 locations at risk of flooding during heavy rain, including 10 places with heavy and frequent flooding, concentrated in the central area and densely populated residential roads.
Da Nang spends hundreds of billions of VND on flood prevention projects
According to the People's Committee of Da Nang City, the cause comes from both objective and subjective factors. On the one hand, the intensity of rain is getting higher and higher, beyond the ability to drain water; the sewer system in the city center has been built for a long time, is degraded, collapsed, and congested. Many points have unreasonable sewers, overlapping underground infrastructure (electricity, water, fiber optic cables, etc.) blocking water intake gates. Suburban areas are formed spontaneously, technical infrastructure is not yet synchronous, many places do not even have sewer systems.
On the other hand, some projects have capital but are slow to construct due to site clearance problems; management and operation are still limited, pumping stations lack stable power sources; flood prevention machinery does not meet requirements. In particular, the situation of people littering, even mattresses and wooden boards into manholes and sewers reduces the ability to collect water, causing more serious flooding.
To solve the problem of flooding, Da Nang has invested in a series of projects with a total cost of hundreds of billions of VND. Up to now, the Xuan Ha - Tam Thuan inter-ward drainage line (old) has been completed; continue to renovate the drainage system on Hung Vuong and Ly Thai To streets.
Investment preparation: upgrade Ong Ich Khiem pumping station (phase 2), build Nguyen Nhan bridge, treat drainage around the airport, sewers from Phu Loc canal to Nguyen Tat Thanh ( cost of 145 billion VND), dredge canals, renovate pumping stations...
In particular, the city is coordinating with Division 372 to renovate the airport's regulating lake system: dredging, expanding 7 existing lakes and building 2 more main drainage canals, with an estimated cost of more than 460 billion VND. When completed, this system will help significantly reduce flooding in the western area of the city.
According to the leader of the Da Nang City Party Committee, the thorough resolution of flooding is not only to ensure people's lives, but also associated with the image of a modern, smart and sustainable city: "When the projects are completed, the problem of local flooding will be gradually overcome. Da Nang must do this if it wants to maintain its brand as a "livable city" and reach the goal of becoming the leading smart city in Vietnam by 2030".
