As the city continues to sink and tides reach historic highs, flooding is one of the greatest natural threats to HCMC. But at a meeting last week, city officials admitted that their heavy investments in anti-flood projects have failed.

Despite having spent VND8.178 trillion (US$387 million) since 2011 on anti-flood projects, municipal councilors said not only are these ineffective but shift flooding to nearby areas:

“Councilors complained that the flood projects were fragmented as one flood spot cleared would be followed by flooding in a new location soon after and that many areas along the city's outskirts still flooded with every high tide or rain shower.

They demanded that someone take responsibility.”

Councilor Nguyen Van Son complained that much of the money went to dikes that were eaily broken by high tides and heavy rains, “I demand stronger dykes, as the current ones seem to be just soil and trees,” he said.

City chairman Le Hoang Quan pointed to climate change for exacerbating flooding in the city but promised that the city will do its best to address the problem.

The next few years are going to be very interesting (and wet) if the city fails to get its act together.

Perhaps it’s time to invest in that boat…

[Thanh Nien // Photo via Anh Đinh]