Flooding and wastewater treatment issues 'heat up' conference of cities in North Central region

On the morning of October 28, in Vinh city, the cluster of urban areas in the North Central region, headed by the Vinh City People's Committee, held a conference to review activities in 2023, along with a workshop on experience in mobilizing resources for investment in construction and management of drainage and wastewater treatment in the North Central region. Photo: MH

Comrades: Tran Ngoc Tu - Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee, Head of the North Central Cluster; Le Sy Chien - Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee; Hoang Thi Thanh Nhung - Vice Chairman of Dong Hoi City People's Committee ( Quang Binh province) chaired the conference.

Attending the conference were Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Son - Deputy General Secretary of the Association of Vietnamese Cities; leaders of some departments and branches of Nghe An province and 17 cities in 6 provinces in the North Central region from Thanh Hoa province to Thua Thien - Hue.

Efforts to build green - clean - beautiful cities

The North Central region urban cluster includes 17 urban areas; including 7 cities and 10 towns under 6 provinces; urban division includes 3 type I urban areas; 2 type II urban areas; 5 type III urban areas and 7 type IV urban areas.

In 2023, closely following the action programs of the Association of Vietnamese Cities and reality, localities have implemented many activities and urban development contents as well as solved pressing issues. The focus is to actively organize the emulation movement launched by the Association of Vietnamese Cities in 2023 with the theme "Building smart, green - clean - beautiful - bright cities, associated with green growth, responding to climate change".

The comrades chairing the workshop. Photo: MH

Accordingly, urban areas in the region have actively promoted the implementation of green - clean - beautiful criteria through budget allocation and socialized resources to implement urban green tree development projects, planting and caring for public green trees; prioritizing attracting investment in new urban projects according to green urban criteria; renovating infrastructure and green trees on main roads; implementing plans to build flower gardens and green trees in residential areas throughout the urban area.

Along with that, urban areas focus on investing in infrastructure and urban beautification, focusing on investing in wastewater treatment systems; clean water supply systems; organizing many programs and campaigns to protect the environment with many models suitable for each urban area. Some urban areas gradually renovate and update new technology in public lighting; pay attention to artistic and decorative lighting; strengthen the management of urban order and construction order, ensuring civilized and modern urban areas.

Comrade Le Sy Chien - Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee reported on the results of activities of the North Central urban cluster in 2023 and gave a keynote report at the workshop. Photo: MH

In addition, some cities have proactively launched new activities and initiatives on smart cities, sustainable development and environmental friendliness. Such as piloting the Smart City Operation Center (IOC) ; surveillance cameras; sensors to monitor water levels, flood warnings, etc.

Besides the positive aspects, the conference also pointed out some limitations of urban areas that need solutions, in which the common limitation in current urban areas is that urban management is still inadequate; localized flooding still occurs in urban areas; urban infrastructure in many places is not commensurate with the scale due to lack of investment capital; the movement to build modern, green, smart, sustainable urban areas... is not very effective.

Representatives of Hue city leaders, Thua Thien Hue province discuss experiences in mobilizing resources to solve urban flooding. Photo: MH

Experience in solving urban flooding

The North Central region is considered to be the most affected by climate change and rising sea levels. Urban areas in the North Central region also have common infrastructure shortcomings, especially water treatment and drainage infrastructure. Flooding is a hot issue in urban areas.

At the workshop, the opinions exchanged affirmed that urban flooding is a "hot", prominent, complicated, and urgent issue in many cities today. This greatly affects the reputation of the government, the quality of life of the people as well as socio-economic development, especially causing damage to traffic infrastructure.

Representatives of Thanh Hoa city leaders, Thanh Hoa province discuss solutions to prevent urban flooding. Photo: MH

Realizing that problem, recently, cities have had many concerns and proposed many solutions to partially solve the flooding situation and treat wastewater, ensuring environmental sanitation.

For example, Vinh city has proactively planned and attracted funding from the German Reconstruction Bank, the World Bank, and the local budget to build and put into use many components for flood prevention and wastewater treatment.

Comrade Nguyen Thi Kim Son - Deputy General Secretary of the Association of Vietnamese Cities emphasized the need to develop smart cities and strengthen cooperation, attracting foreign resources to solve the problem of flooding in urban areas. Photo: MH

Or Hue city, in addition to using the budget, has focused on calling for funding from international organizations such as JICA, KOICA, AIMF, SIAAP, AFD... to invest in and build drainage systems on some roads and areas in the city, combined with urban beautification.

Thanh Hoa City has focused on reviewing and adjusting the city's general planning along with the detailed regional irrigation planning; developing and implementing drainage projects; building specific mechanisms to implement flood prevention projects...

Comrade Tran Ngoc Tu - Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee, Head of the North Central Cluster affirmed that the opinions presented at the conference are valuable experiences for cities to learn from each other and suggest many solutions that need to be considered to effectively solve the current urban flooding situation. Photo: MH

However, the “story” of urban flooding is still present and becoming urgent. To solve this problem, some opinions say that infrastructure, the core of which is planning and appropriate investment and resources (including from the budget, strategic investors and socialization) are issues that cities need to continue to worry about and find solutions for; at the same time, it is recommended that the Central Government allow cities to establish specialized planning to effectively solve the problem of urban flooding.

Source: https://baonghean.vn/van-de-ngap-ung-xu-ly-nuoc-thai-lam-nong-hoi-nghi-cac-do-thi-vung-bac-trung-bo-post279065.html