159 new flooding points in Ho Chi Minh City
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction has just sent an urgent document to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee reporting on a plan to fundamentally solve the flooding situation in the city.
According to the Department of Construction, Ho Chi Minh City currently has 159 locations that are frequently flooded, of which Ho Chi Minh City area previously had 76 points, Binh Duong area had 52 points and Ba Ria - Vung Tau area had 31 points.
Regarding objective reasons, the Department of Construction said that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme rain; sea level rise makes the water level at river mouths and canals always high, reducing the possibility of self-flowing drainage.
High tides regularly exceed 1.8 m at Phu An and Nha Be stations, causing flooding of discharge gates, making the drainage system operate ineffectively.
Notably, the situation of land subsidence is becoming increasingly serious, with an average rate of about 2 cm/year; many areas subside 2 - 5 cm/year, even 7 - 8 cm/year in densely populated construction areas. The total subsidence is commonly 20 - 30 cm in 10 - 12 years, in some places exceeding 50 cm.
According to the Department of Construction, due to subjective reasons, rapid urbanization has reduced the natural water seepage area, increased surface flow and narrowed water storage space. Prolonged groundwater exploitation also contributes to increasing subsidence in many weak soil areas.
Many drainage - flood control plans approved before 2020 are no longer suitable due to the use of outdated rain, tide and sea level rise parameters, not fully integrating climate change factors and risks of spreading through inter-regional basins.
In fact, subsidence of 20 - 50 cm makes the design height of culverts, dykes and pumping stations lower than the current conditions, reducing the efficiency of the project, leading to deep and prolonged flooding when a combination of heavy rain - high tide - subsidence appears.
According to the Department of Construction, financial resources for flood prevention in Ho Chi Minh City and localities in the basin are still very limited. The budget currently only meets about 30% of investment needs, causing many projects to be delayed.
The allocation of capital is still fragmented, lacking access by inter-regional basin; socialized capital sources, PPP and ODA are not large enough, lacking flexible mechanisms to attract investment.
Only sufficient capital can thoroughly handle 159 flooding points
In the period 2026 - 2030, Ho Chi Minh City needs to implement 157 projects with a total investment of nearly 348,000 billion VND.
Currently, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has only approved 51 projects, with a total capital of more than 158,261 billion VND. With this resource, the city can only handle 72/159 flooded points by 2030.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction emphasized that only when sufficient capital is allocated for all 157 projects, with a total investment of nearly 348,000 billion VND, can Ho Chi Minh City fundamentally solve all 159 existing flooding points.
In the long term, the Department of Construction said that the city needs to review and build a synchronous system of dykes, tide control culverts, reservoirs... to promote the efficiency of urban drainage infrastructure.
