HCM CITY – Deputy chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee, Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, has ordered district authorities to clear all encroachment of canals and drains by the end of this year.

Speaking at a meeting held on Monday to discuss the city’s flooding problem, he instructed the Steering Centre of the Urban Flood Control Programme to collaborate with the 24 districts to resolve the problem.

He ordered the Departments of Finance and of Planning and Investment to allocate funds on a priority basis for dredging rivers and canals.     

The rate of dredging should be increased from the current 2 per cent to at least 20 per cent, he said.

This would help mitigate flooding and facilitate waterway transportation, he said.

There have been rains on 22 occasions this year, and four of them caused flooding on one to 32 streets, according to the centre.

The 32 include Ung Văn Khiêm, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, Cây Trâm, Phan Huy Ích, Nguyễn Xí, Hùynh Tấn Phát and An Dương Vương.

The biggest downpour, on May 19, brought rainfall of 119.3mm and flooded the 32 streets.

Nguyễn Hoàng Anh Dũng, deputy director of the centre, said most of the flooded streets have small and degraded drains.

Besides, throwing litter down drains and manholes remains common, he said.

“Littering blocks the drains. The centre has ordered the clearing of rubbish from the mouths of drains.”       

To mitigate flooding during rains, the centre is operating three pumping stations to pump rainwater out. The Nhiêu Lộc – Thị Nghè wastewater pumping station, for instance, can pump 76,800 cubic metres of rainwater per hour, helping reduce flooding in the Nhiêu Lộc – Thị Nghè basin.

Flood prevention works are tardy, especially land acquisition, according to the centre.

It urged district authorities to speed up the process of obtaining lands for flood prevention works like the Bàu Trâu Canal project in District 6 and Tân Phú District to mitigate flooding on An Dương Vương and Phan Anh streets and the Sài Gòn River left bank project in District 2 and Thủ Đức to prevent flooding on Quốc Hương, Thảo Điền and Nguyễn Văn Hưởng streets.   

Tuyến instructed the centre to file detailed reports about flooding sites and the reasons for the flooding so that the city could adopt long-term measures to resolve the problem.

Based on the reports, the city would consult experts and solicit investment in flood prevention programmes, he added. - VNS