Nguyen Tan Van, chairman of Vietnam Association of Architects
HCM City authorities have announced a master plan to turn HCM City into a smart city for the 2017-2020 period with a view to 2025. District 2, 9 and Thu Duc District are the focus. "We need co-operation between the government, firms, scientists and financial investors," said HCM City Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong.
However, Van asked if it only took one rain to cripple the city, how long it would take to achieve the goal and make HCM City into an economic, cultural and technological centre.
The recent storm in HCM City caused heavy rains, combining with high tides, which left many streets severely flooded. Reports from the Department of Transport show that by the afternoon of November 25, 39 streets were left submerged, while some places were under 30 centimetres and half of Huynh Tan Phat Street was under half a metre of water.
"We keep talking about a smart city but there's not much action. In reality, the stronger and quicker urbanisation is, the worse HCM City's drainage system becomes," Van said. "The drainage system is blocked and can't deal with one storm. HCM City is becoming more and more flooded."
Sustainable programmes lack transparency and locals are more concerned about the environment. Van said discussions would become fruitful and they would come up with practical solutions to protect the citizens.
"We can't just watch the citizens lose a whole year of labour due to a natural event. It's the planners' responsibility," Van said.
