The administration of Ho Chi Minh City will go ahead with a project to build its first-ever retention basin in the rural district of Cu Chi as a means of curbing chronic flooding in the city.

The pond will reserve water for household and agriculture use during the dry season, and mitigate the impacts of flooding during the rainy season.

The project, which will see the construction of a retention basin between 2019 and 2025, has been approved by Le Van Khoa, deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City.

The city’s Steering Center for the Urban Flood Control Program will implement the project, the first of its kind in the southern metropolis, around the Ben Muong and Lang The canals in Cu Chi.

During the 2017-18 period, the city will focus on upgrading, expanding and dredging canals to improve the water flow and anti-flooding capacity of its drainage system.

Resolving water pollution and improving hygiene in the area are also prioritized, before construction of the retention basin commences in 2019.

According to the steering center, as much as 3,000 hectares of land in the Ben Muong – Lang The area is constantly flooded during rainy seasons, damaging crops.

Sedimentation in nearby waterways and the fast growth of industrial and residential zones without the installation of appropriate drainage systems have exacerbated the problem, it said.