On October 13, at the inauguration ceremony of Soc Son Waste-to-energy Plant, Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh mentioned the problem of flooding in the city.
Due to the impact of three storms Kajiki, Bualoi and Matmo, Hanoi as well as the entire North experienced heavy rains, causing widespread flooding, seriously affecting traffic and people's lives.
Mr. Tran Sy Thanh said that there are many causes of flooding in Hanoi in recent times, including the reason why many rivers and lakes in the city, even rivers and lakes in the inner city, have not been dredged in recent years.
"Not that we do not know how to do it or do not have money, but because there is no place to bury sludge according to regulations" - said the Chairman of Hanoi.
According to Mr. Tran Sy Thanh, dredging river and lake mud to clear the flow, increase the storage capacity, and help drain water quickly is not simply digging mud up and taking it elsewhere to dump, but must have a dumping site and handling it in accordance with regulations.
The Chairman of Hanoi cited that West Lake already had a dredging project but because there was no place to dump sludge according to regulations, it had to be temporarily suspended.
The head of the city government directed relevant units to promptly find land funds and assign investors to start construction of sludge treatment plants, after which the city will immediately implement an urgent project to dredge rivers and lakes.
Previously, on the afternoon of October 11, the Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee inspected the situation and directed the flood response work in Da Phuc and Trung Gia communes (in the old Soc Son district). These are the two areas most severely affected by the recent floods in the city.
The Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee stated that it is rare for the city to face a double natural disaster like the recent one, when storms overlap and create a circulation that causes very heavy rain.
He said that storm No. 10 is a "test" for the operational capacity of local authorities at both levels, and is also the first test for the new civil defense model deployed from August 1.
Although admitting that the city is still passive in responding to flooding caused by storm No. 10, the Chairman of Hanoi emphasized that this is a major storm, with rapid rain and complicated developments, causing many difficulties in initial handling.
"The rain was so heavy that at that time, I thought almost no one could reach out and support each other. Everyone is in different locations across the city, so they have to endure. We have been passive since the forecast stage, because everything happened too quickly," said Mr. Tran Sy Thanh.
At the inspection, Mr. Tran Sy Thanh requested the authorities to quickly clean up the environment, stabilize people's lives, and return students to school soon when the water receded.
At the same time, it is required that departments, branches and localities must compile a list of urgent projects next week and submit them immediately for implementation, in which priority is given to inner-city and suburban areas that are often flooded.
