A section of the Sài Gòn River in HCM City.VNS File Photo/Tuấn Khôi.

HCM CITY -- The HCM City People’s Committee has petitioned the Government to draft a master plan for the protection of the Đồng Nai River Basin.

It hopes to develop its own plan to ensure safety for its water resources, protect the environment and combat with climate change based on the central plan.

The city has built three wastewater treatment plants including the first stage of the Bình Hưng Plant with a capacity of 141,000 cubic metres per day, the 30,000cu.m Bình Hưng Hoà and the 131,000cu.m Tham Lương – Bến Cát Waste Treatment Plant, which is still under trial.

According to figures released by the city authorities, around 370,000cu.m of wastewater are collected and treated daily, or a mere 21.2 of the total volume discharged.

The Tham Lương – Bến Cát Plant is scheduled to go on stream in 2020, while the completion of the second stage will raise the capacity of Bình Hưng to 469,000cu.m.

As of August the city had 4,335 factories and plants (including 1,300 facilities in 17 industrial parks, export processing zones and hi-tech parks), and 4,200 of them have their own industrial wastewater treatment systems that meet standards set by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Most of the 121 hospitals and healthcare facilities in the city have their own treatment systems, which collect and treat 99 per cent of the wastewater discharged by them.

The HCM City Blood Transfusion Haematology Hospital and Bình Tân Hospital are currently renovating their wastewater treatment facilities.

As part of efforts to protect the environment in the Đồng Nai River Basin, the city is making efforts to reduce the rate of burial of solid wastes to 50 per cent next year and to 20 per cent by 2025, and adopting new technologies.

The city wants construction to begin at the 500 tonne per day plant of the Tasco Joint-stock company and to speed up construction works of the 1,000 tonne per day solid waste treatment plant of the Trisun Green Energy Corporation.

The HCM City Department of Natural Resources and Environment plans to co-operate with neighbouring provinces like Long An, Đồng Nai, Tiền Giang, Bình Dương, Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu, Tây Ninh, and Đồng Nai to implement projects signed with them for the protection of the Đồng Nai River.

It is also working with district authorities to patrol and stop illegal sand mining in the Đồng Nai River, especially in border areas and in the coastal district of Cần Giờ.—VNS.