VietNamNet Bridge – The HCMC government has asked the People’s Council of the city to allow Trung Nam Joint Stock Co. to carry out an anti-flood dyke project worth VND9.85 trillion (US$438.2 million) between 2015 and 2018.

A street in HCMC is flooded after torrential rain in this file photo. The HCMC government is seeking approval for Trung Nam Joint Stock Co. to carry out an anti-flood dyke project worth VND9.85 trillion in the city – Photo: Anh Quan

According to the city government, Trung Nam’s build-transfer (BT) project would benefit an inner-city area totaling 570 square kilometers and the right bank of the Saigon River.

The project would develop six flood tide control gates in Ben Nghe, Tan Thuan, Phu Xuan, Muong Chuoi, Cay Kho and Phu Dinh, a seven-kilometer riverside dyke and 68 small sewers under the dyke. Trung Nam would build these components in districts 1,4,7,8, Nha Be, Binh Tan and Binh Chanh.

The company plans to use its own capital and borrow from the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) to fund the project. Of the total funding, VND1.79 trillion would be used for site clearance and compensation.

The city will use its budget to pay 85% of the total finance for Trung Nam in eight years and the remainder by giving the investor land to execute its projects.

When done, the project would help reduce direct and indirect damage caused by flood tides for around 6.5 million citizens living within the project site, according to the HCMC government.

The city government cited the results of a study conducted by Dutch company Royal Haskoning in 2011 that anti-flood works would create many social and economic benefits for the inner-city area.

Therefore, the city government suggested quickly implementing site clearance for the anti-flood project from now until the final quarter of next year.

Fast population growth and urbanization have piled pressure on roads and water drainage systems in the city. Climate change has also led flooding to rise in the city, thus seriously affecting local communities.

On August 20, the Government Office announced that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung had approved a special mechanism for HCMC to boost the implementation of anti-flood projects under the BT format and award no-bid contracts to investors of these projects.

SGT