Dredging the Soai Rap River in HCM City (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City wants the Netherlands to assist in dealing with saltwater intrusion, which is challenging the southern municipality and the entire Mekong Delta nearby, a local official has said.
Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem had a working session on climate change response on March 31 with the visiting Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment, Melanie Schultz van Haegen.
Liem said HCM City will work with Dutch agencies to consider the application of filter technology and other related innovations.
He also acknowledged the Netherlands’ effective assistance in climate change response, water resource management and inundation prevention, which are increasingly critical to local sustainable development for the future.
HCM City and the European nation’s Rotterdam city inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on climate change adaptation cooperation in March 2011. Under that partnership, District 4 was chosen to integrate the principles of the climate adaptation strategy through its socio-economic development planning.
The official said he hopes the Netherlands will help call for investment into an anti-flooding reservoir in the neighbourhood of Khanh Hoi Lake park in District 4.
At the working session, Minister Haegen shared her country’s experience in using advanced technologies to dredge rivers.
She noted that are apart from facing saltwater intrusion, rivers in HCM City are also encountering pollution, along with daily and industrial waste. Dutch experts are ready to offer advice and cutting-edge technologies for the city to treat water.
Paula Verhoeven, Director of Rotterdam’s sustainability and climate change programme, said coping with climate change is a long-term and challenging matter. A flood control reservoir at Khanh Hoi park is considered an important solution in HCM City, as the increasingly complicated climate changes are leading to a cycle of deluge, water shortage and drought.
On this occasion, the steering centre of HCM City’s Flood Control Programme and the Netherlands’ water management agency signed an MoU on growing the centre’s capacity.-VNA
