HCM City Spends Big to Address Flood

The HCM City People’s Committee has just granted an investment license to a project to tackle local floods, worth VND10 trillion ($450 million). The project will be implemented by the Trung Nam Construction Investment JSC under the Build and Transfer (BT) method. It aims to fight floods and respond to climate change in an area of 570 square kilometers, affecting some 6.5 million residents along the Sai Gon River bank and the down town. The project will be carried out in May this year and expected to be completed within 36 months. According to statistics from the city, district 8 usually faces serious floods caused by tidal surges, with 1,000 households living along canals in wards 7 and 16 most affected. From 2011-2014, there were 76 tides with their peaks exceeding 1.5m, which is higher than 63.5% of the city area. (vov.vn Apr 22)