Vietnam has yet to develop a master plan for
underground construction, especially in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, even though
the two major cities have been planning and building large projects below
ground.
As the
cities’ structure becomes denser, more and more facilities suited for different
purposes have been built underground. In Hanoi, the construction of the first
underground metro route linking surface access points at Nhon and Hanoi train
station has started. Six other below-ground metro routes have been planned.
In Ho
Chi Minh City the Thu Thiem tunnel, which sits around 20 meters below the
Saigon riverbed, was put into use last year. Construction of the subterranean
metro route linking Ben Thanh Market downtown and theme park Suoi Tien in
District 9 has begun, and five other routes have been planned.
Other
existing subterranean works in the cities include electricity grids, and
sewerage and water pipe networks that have been interlaced below the surface.
Yet the
nation doesn’t have in hand a master plan, which provides the framework for
managing and controlling underground construction work and allows suitable
locations to be allocated for underground facilities.
Such a
plan would dispose building locations and reservations for long-term underground
projects such as tunnels to interconnect complexes both above and below ground
and facilities as shopping malls, apartment buildings, banks, offices, and
metro terminals.
There
has been no coordination between builders and authorities to ensure synchronization
and comprehensive effects from the construction of small projects.
The
power, water supply, post-office and anti-flooding sectors have their own maps
showing underground construction works, all with conflicting data, making it
difficult for future construction companies and authorities to manage the
infrastructure.
Role of a master plan
A
master plan for underground construction helps connect facilities and premises
to each other to form coherent and interrelated complexes, facilitate traffic and
technical maintenance, and retain underground space for future construction.
In
short, it is a strategic land preservation plan.
With
legal status, the master plan also reinforces the systematic nature and quality
of underground construction and the exchange of information related to it.
A
well-planned combination of underground reservations and existing facilities
and tunnels helps create a more unified and eco-efficient structure for use on
the surface and below the earth. It also secures the effect over the longer
term and helps halt the degradation of infrastructure.
In
2007, the Ministry of Construction threw itself into laying the first brick to
settle the issue by coordinating with the Vietnam Academy of Science and
Technology to complete a draft regulation on quality standards for underground
projects.
Thanks
to consultation with developed countries such as the US, Australia and China,
the regulation laid a foundation for the government to issue a decree on
underground construction.
But it
will be better if underground construction is governed by a City Planning Law,
which stipulates not only city planning but also quality standards,
architecture and techniques.
Years
ago, the United Nations Development Program sponsored a project for Vietnam to
improve capacity in designing and planning underground construction, but it has
not been used for practical application ever since.
TUOI
TRE
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