Urban underground planning in Vietnam neglected

Vietnam has yet to develop a master plan for underground construction, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, even though the two major cities have been planning and building large projects below ground.

The Thu Thiem tunnel, which sits around 20 meters below the Saigon riverbed, was put into use last year - Photo: Tuoi Tre

As the cities’ structure becomes denser, more and more facilities suited for different purposes have been built underground. In Hanoi, the construction of the first underground metro route linking surface access points at Nhon and Hanoi train station has started. Six other below-ground metro routes have been planned.

In Ho Chi Minh City the Thu Thiem tunnel, which sits around 20 meters below the Saigon riverbed, was put into use last year. Construction of the subterranean metro route linking Ben Thanh Market downtown and theme park Suoi Tien in District 9 has begun, and five other routes have been planned.

Other existing subterranean works in the cities include electricity grids, and sewerage and water pipe networks that have been interlaced below the surface.

Yet the nation doesn’t have in hand a master plan, which provides the framework for managing and controlling underground construction work and allows suitable locations to be allocated for underground facilities.

Such a plan would dispose building locations and reservations for long-term underground projects such as tunnels to interconnect complexes both above and below ground and facilities as shopping malls, apartment buildings, banks, offices, and metro terminals.

There has been no coordination between builders and authorities to ensure synchronization and comprehensive effects from the construction of small projects.

The power, water supply, post-office and anti-flooding sectors have their own maps showing underground construction works, all with conflicting data, making it difficult for future construction companies and authorities to manage the infrastructure.

Role of a master plan

A master plan for underground construction helps connect facilities and premises to each other to form coherent and interrelated complexes, facilitate traffic and technical maintenance, and retain underground space for future construction.

In short, it is a strategic land preservation plan.

With legal status, the master plan also reinforces the systematic nature and quality of underground construction and the exchange of information related to it.

A well-planned combination of underground reservations and existing facilities and tunnels helps create a more unified and eco-efficient structure for use on the surface and below the earth. It also secures the effect over the longer term and helps halt the degradation of infrastructure.

In 2007, the Ministry of Construction threw itself into laying the first brick to settle the issue by coordinating with the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology to complete a draft regulation on quality standards for underground projects.

Thanks to consultation with developed countries such as the US, Australia and China, the regulation laid a foundation for the government to issue a decree on underground construction.

But it will be better if underground construction is governed by a City Planning Law, which stipulates not only city planning but also quality standards, architecture and techniques.

Years ago, the United Nations Development Program sponsored a project for Vietnam to improve capacity in designing and planning underground construction, but it has not been used for practical application ever since.