Source: Lao dong Date: 2 May, 2016 Page: minh-doi-thay-tung-ngay-tren-ben-me-coc

Transcription

1 Source: Lao dong Date: 2 May, 2016 Page: minh-doi-thay-tung-ngay-tren-ben-me-coc bld The transformation of Hochiminh City: Changes day by day on Me Coc Quay LDO By LE TUYET Along Lo Gom Canal, roads to Me Coc are now renovated and changed day by day. Having playground, children no longer play in contaminated and dangerous water as they did 10 years ago - Photo by M. Quan Me Coc Quay is located in Ward 15, District 8. On the map, Me Coc oasis looks like a knife blade, surrounded by Doi Canal, Lo Gom Canal, and Ngang 3 Canal. Visiting Me Coc today, people hardly imagine that the place was known as the lowest land in Saigon with about 20 years of inundation with almost 20 flooded days a month. The days of motorcycle exhaust pipe higher than motorcycle saddle" was over Under French colonialism, the old quay was known as Quai de Poterie. In 1955, the quay was renamed Me Coc because there was a granary of Me Coc Company located in this area. Nowadays, despite only a few boats occasionally unloading fruits at this quay and there is no more hustle-bustle of the heyday, Me Coc Quay is always a familiar name for people.

2 The old road to Me Coc flooded almost 20 days a month due to spring tide- Photo by Tran Phan Sharing memories of the old days, senior citizens believed that Me Coc quay was not regularly flooded; just until the construction density of the city increased, rivers and canal were leveled off, causing difficulty in water drainage, Me Coc resident area was flooded, hence the 20-years-old misery. Ms. Le Thi Tuyet Hang, who has been residing in this area for nearly 60 years, shared that before 2007 Me Coc residents were struggled with flood all over the floor, and reaching 1 meter high at peak. Sometimes there are people who drowned in flooded area, vehicles were swept away by water; it was common for kids on the way to school to slip and fall into the water so their clothes and books got wet. Me Coc was flooded all year round; twice a month at the beginning and the middle, each time lasted from 5 to 10 days. Secretary of Ward 15 Pham Van Tung said that flood stories often make people laugh out loud, Living on a deserted island in Saigon is ridiculously fun.

3 10 years ago, roads to Me Coc were flooded (by overflow canal), so it was difficult to distinguish road from canal Photo by Tran Phan Because water level was usually 50 cm higher the ground, motorbikes used to stall due to water in spark plug hole; riders, therefore, redesigned the exhaust pipe, making it higher than the saddle. Tung said riding such motorbike on road tells other Saigonese that you are from Me Coc. Or about selling house, house was put on sales in the morning, sold out at lunchtime, and returned/resold in the afternoon because of flooding over the knees. Panic! Lunar New Years in Me Coc meant flooding everywhere making people just sit and look at floating garbage. During Tet, people hardly dressed up and their houses remained sleazy. They also had serious skin diseases, full of impetigo and itch...

4 Students from Me Coc wading in the water to school despite of the blazing sun Photo by Tran Phan in 2006 All those stories were over; from 2007 till now, Me Coc has thoroughly changed, people are now hunting land for sales. Scooters and cars race on roads, Mr. Duong Ngoc Long, who has been living in Me Coc from 1975 eagerly shared. Me Coc now having engineering and master degree holders Me Coc now has higher education graduates, no manual workers anymore! Educational levels range from pre-school to college, so kids can pursue higher education then start working for big companies and offices, Mr. Pham Van Tung happily smiled while talking about his most satisfaction during the transformation in Me Coc. He also listed out some people having higher education from Mrs. H s, Mr. B s, or Ms. T s children working in district 1 and owning a car The senior Party Secretary with more than 30 years working in Me Coc explained that: In the past, the journey to school was arduous. Except those dry days, flooded days meant a spare uniform in school bag or days off when parents went to work and no adult could take care of kids because it was too dangerous for them to go to school alone. Hearing about a diligent student drowned in flooding area on his way to school broke my heart.

5 Public parks and playgrounds are now along Lo Gom Canal for kids in Me Coc Quay, Ward 15, District 8 Photo by Le Tuyet Some families tried to escort their kids to school but those were the minority. The majority let children leave school early for manual jobs at home so they grew up to be unskilled laborers, male porters or female industrial seamstresses. Simple jobs brought low income and austerity Even his ward office had weird working time following the flood tide schedule : civil servants had to check to avoid flood tide or got stuck a whole day without efficiency. Water over the knees made people stay at home rather than go out to notarize papers. When water drained out, whole ward office, from the Party Secretary to janitors, started cleaning up garbage Fragile local economy without investment led to slow and tiring working environment. But now everything has changed; if anyone still kept that bad habit, I would fire him. 10 years of flood free makes Ward 15 change thoroughly: residents live happily, we work twice as hard to compensate for those 20 years of flooding, Tung happily said. Continue to improve people's quality of life According to Mr. Le Quynh Dai, Permanent Vice Chairman of People Committee of District 8, the reduction of flooding in Ward 15 improved water environment, leading to positive changes in economy, culture, education, and local traffic. Therefore, local people s lives have been significantly improved.

6 On these changes, people in Ward 15 recall Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tai, the former Vice Chairman of People Committee of HCMC. He was appreciated for his contribution to the anti-flood construction projects of Me Coc 1 and 2 areas completed in 2007 and the water environment improvement project of canal basin including Tau Hu-Ben Nghe-Doi-Te Canals in phase 1 which was funded by JICA. Mr. Luong Minh Phuc (the leftmost person) and Actress Lan Phuong, JICA s Good Will Ambassador visiting Me Coc 1 pumping station Photo by Le Tuyet General Director of Urban-civil works construction investment management authority of Ho Chi Minh City (UCCI) Luong Minh Phuc shared that the most important goal of the water environment improvement project of HCMC canal basin including Tau Hu-Ben Nghe-Doi-Te Canals in phase 1 was to resolve local flooding situation at wetland areas where flood occurs regularly like Thanh Da Binh Thanh District and Me Coc 1 and 2, Ward 15, District 8 (phase 1) and continue to upgrade Me Coc 1 and 2 in package F1 of the project in phase 2. This is the first HCMC large scale project with additional construction of drainage system to collect rain water and a complete sewerage system to collect and carry waste water to the waste water treatment plant for treatment. These systems have reduced the pollution of water resource for the inner city, Tau Hu-Ben Nghe Canal. Especially, the project resolved local flooding at lowland areas in the city such as Me Coc 1 and 2, where people installed new sewerage system and tidal gates, dredging canal, constructing regulating ponds and forced wastewater pumping station for those areas to reduce flooding and environmental pollution,

7 upgrading local people s living standards. In lowland areas such as Thanh Da and Me Coc, there were new sewerage system, tidal gates as well as regulating pond and forced wastewater pumping stations. Although, the project phase 1 is still in the last stage of completion, the transformation of Me Coc Quay does bring a better life to residents. As the Party Secretary of Ward 15 Nguyen Van Tung said, Whoever asks me how HCMC transformation looks like and where those changes are, I will not hesitate to show them Me Coc case. The children on the playgrounds along Lo Gom Canal in Me Coc Quay can say it all about how local people s lives have changed.