Reporter Son Trung from the Da Nang Newspaper has recently interviewed the Chairman of the municipal Urban Planning and Development Association, architect Hoang Quang Huy, to hear his opinions about the city’s project to improving the drainage along the Phu Loc River.

The source of the river is in Lien Chieu District’s Hoa Khanh Nam Ward and it flows into Da Nang Bay beneath Nguyen Tat Thanh Street.  Under the project, a 14,146m² concrete floor will be built over a section of the river’s mouth, with 142 concrete piles driven into the river-bed, to develop an entertainment area for local residents featuring flower gardens.  The project aims to deal with the problem of severe environmental pollution in the river’s basin and will cost over 118 billion VND from the city’s budget.

The polluted river

However, Chairman Huy is not happy with the implementation of this project for several reasons.  He notes that reports on the environmental impact assessments for the project have yet to be completed.  Also, no environmental improvement measures have been identified, including evaluating the quality of treated waste water before it is discharged into the river, handling bad odours, and allocating anchorages for fishing boats on both banks of the river.

He remarked that the planting of trees, flowers and grass on the concrete floor, covered by an only a 1m-thick layer of soil, will prove to be ineffective because the trees will not be able to withstand storms and the soil could be swept away during prolonged heavy rain.

Meanwhile, the thoughtless building of the concrete piles in the river-bed could cause obstructions to the river’s flow which might result in negative environmental consequences.  In particular, the large volume of domestic waste, duckweed, rotten wood and grass which floats down to the river mouth and out into the open sea may become obstructed by the piles during the rainy season.  As a result, the cumulative volume of such debris will decompose to create methane gas which is very dangerous for those involved in dredging the thick sludge out of the river.  With regard to the geomantic principles, the building of the piles restricting the river’s flow might no longer bring blessings and fortune for local residents living on the banks of the river.

In an effort to deal with these problems, Chairman Hung stressed the urgency to develop an alternative, better project for improving the drainage system and the landscape of the river basin.  The focus should be on researching the river’s flow and assessing the efficiency of all projects in the river’s basin, including the upgrade of the Phu Loc domestic waste water treatment plant.  Also, importance should be attached to managing the quality of treated waste water, handling bad odours, building a synchronous technical infrastructure system in the river’s basin, and improving the landscape along both banks of the river.