Sluice gate will stop flooding

Dredging has begun in a section of the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal where it flows into the Sai Gon River soon after a groud-breaking ceremony in HCM City yesterday. A 58-metre-wide sluice gate is expected to protect more than 600ha of low-lying areas in seven districts. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vu

HCM CITY — Work began yesterday on the construction of a sluice gate on Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Cannal to help control chronic tidal flood in HCM City.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang and deputy chairman of the HCM City People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Tai broke the ground of the VND300 billion (US$15 million) project in Binh Thanh District.

The 58-metre-wide sluice gate is expected to protect more than 600 hectares of low-lying areas in seven districts from flooding during high tide, according to officials.

Nguyen Ngoc Cong, deputy head of the city's Flood Control Centre, said the Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe sluice gate would help reduce flooding in Districts 1, 3, 10, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, Go Vap, and Tan Binh.

It would have a pumping system with a capacity of 48cu.m per second, and was scheduled for completion in December 2012.

Fifty per cent of the 2,095-square-kilometre city was vulnerable to flooding during high tides, Cong said.

The city also plans to spend $550 million to build a 172km-long dyke system along the Sai Gon, Vam Co Dong and Soai Rap rivers to keep out floods. It suffered from record high tides last month, which flooded several residental areas.

Binh Thanh is among the districts worst affected by high tides on the Sai Gon River. —VNS

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Ha Long luxury train fails to get enough custom

HA NOI — The luxury Ha Long Express train service has been discontinued just one year after opening due to lack of demand.

The Ha Noi Railway Company was contracted by South Korean firm Dongrim to operate the service and had a total investment of almost US$1 million. The six-carriage train could seat 310 passengers in leather upholstered luxury, and was equipped with bars and 29 inch-LCD televisions. It was air-conditioned throughout.

The service, which ran from Gia Lam station in Long Bien District of Ha Noi to Ha Long City in northeastern Quang Ninh Province, was launched in April 2009.

Dongrim said the service targeted tourists heading for Ha Long Bay. However, due to lack of demand, the train service was losing money hand over fist – despite the fact that tickets were reasonably priced at between $15 (for tourists) and $5 (local passengers), the company said.

"There were times when there were just five or six customers travelling on the train," said Nguyen Van Dung, a member of staff at Gia Lam station.

Le Hai Long, who is in charge of Dongrim's marketing in Viet Nam, said the infrequency of trains and the unsociable time table had proved unpopular with customers. The Ha Long Express travelled between Ha Noi and Ha Long just once a day, departing the capital at 7am and returning from the port city at 3pm.

"Tourists only counted for a small number of customers. We had to rely on regular domestic commuters, most of whom preferred to take the bus, which runs every fifteen minutes and is quicker," Long said.

Despite its name, the Ha Long Express took five hours to travel from Ha Noi to Ha Long City – a journey a bus can do in 3 and a half hours.

The rail operator blamed the track. "The rail track that Viet Nam often uses is one metre wide, but this train uses 1.435-metre wide rails. So it has to follow the route where the track is wide enough, which entails travelling farther," Long said.

Nguyen Van Binh, vice director of the Ha Noi Railway Company, said greater investment was needed to make the luxury service more attractive to customers.

"We tried to attract foreign investment in order to get better use of the railroad and station facilities but the business was run independently by Dongrim."

The train's carriages were originally used to transport passengers on the Seoul underground. Binh's company was hired to refurbish the carriages for use in Viet Nam.

Binh said his company had tried and failed to get Dongrim to reopen the service.

"At the moment, the Viet Nam Railway Company does not plan to broaden the railroad to 1,435-metre-wide to meet the needs of the Ha Long Express," he said.

Dongrim's Long however said the company would try to reopen the service next February. "We are also thinking of opening another route to the central regions but will have to consider the plan carefully to ensure we can attract enough customers," he said. — VNS

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