Tan Son Nhat Airport may close because of a canal

The A41 canal is tasked with draining 50% of the water in the airport, but it is clogged, while many houses and buildings around Tan Son Nhat also block other exits.

On the morning of September 16, A41 Canal in Ward 4 (Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City) was filled with debris, household waste, and even mattresses, foam boxes, etc. scattered in many places, especially at the entrances of the sewers.

2 km long, the canal originates from a nearly 400 m box culvert section inside the airport before draining into an open canal outside near the corner of Phan Thuc Duyet Street. The water from here flows meanderingly through the residential area towards Cong Hoa Street before flowing through the underground sewer to Nhieu Loc Canal. With the task of draining 50% of the water at Tan Son Nhat Airport, A41 is currently encroached upon by residential houses, many sections have narrowed to only 0.8 m.

Canal A41 drains 50% of the water for the airport, but many sections have been encroached upon, leaving only 0.8 m. Photo: Duy Tran

"The canal used to be very wide, with clear water on both sides, but then many households littered and built haphazardly, causing the canal bed to silt up and block drainage in the area," said Mr. Tam (70 years old), who lives about 200 meters from the A41 canal.

Tan Son Nhat has two other drainage systems: Hy Vong canal (to drain the administrative area, golf course area from Pham Van Bach street to Tham Luong canal); the remaining is Nhat Ban canal (from the airport to Nguyen Kiem street) responsible for draining the international terminal area and aircraft repair area.

According to a leader of Tan Son Nhat, the serious flooding that occurs at the airport every time there is heavy rain like now is mainly due to the A41 canal not being able to ensure drainage. The outside flow is small and clogged with trash, causing water to stagnate and not drain out in time.

The entire area of ​​the aircraft parking lot (near Phan Thuc Duyet Street), the cargo terminal, and the warehouse depend on the A41 canal. If the water cannot be drained in time, this area will be flooded again like the previous rains. The airport has proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and Tan Binh District take measures to dredge and renovate this canal.

The drainage of the A41 canal in the airport, this section will go underground for 400 m before going outside. Photo: AX

Regarding the severe flooding of Tan Son Nhat every time it rains heavily, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thiep - Deputy General Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Water and Environment Association - ruled out the reason for high tides because the airport is 7-10 meters above sea level. He did not point out the A41 canal as the only "culprit", but he affirmed that the cause of the airport flooding is due to problems with the internal and external drainage systems.

"Heavy rains are occurring more and more frequently, but the water receiving and drainage system around the airport is silted up at the bottom. Plants and debris float on the surface, and some sections are even encroached upon in a 'bottleneck' manner, causing the flow to be blocked and reducing drainage capacity," Mr. Thiep analyzed.

Previously, the area around Tan Son Nhat was agricultural land, lower than the airport, so the drainage capacity was good. "Due to urbanization, people raised the ground, concretized the surface, rainwater gathered in the canals very quickly, so the drainage pressure was very high. If the water could not drain in time to the outside area, flooding of the airport was inevitable," Mr. Thiep assessed.

Sharing the same view, Professor, Dr. Le Huy Ba said that the airport area is ancient alluvial soil, high ground, and has a slope, so there was no flooding in the past. Before 1975, Tan Son Nhat had an area 4-5 times larger than it is today, so rainwater could easily drain over a large area and not cause flooding.

"The surrounding roads have been raised, but the drainage systems of these roads are not connected to the airport, causing many drainage channels of Tan Son Nhat to be blocked, causing flooding inside," Mr. Ba commented.

Tan Son Nhat Airport in the rain on September 11. Photo: Duy Tran

In addition, Professor Ba also hypothesized that Tan Son Nhat flooded due to the shrinking area, along with the golf course affecting the drainage area of ​​the airport. In particular, a series of constructions serving the golf course such as restaurants, hotels and drainage systems only serve to drain water from the golf course.

"The natural land area for draining rainwater at the airport has once again been narrowed. Furthermore, the old airport's drainage system has been encroached upon and filled in, causing severe flooding in many areas inside," said Mr. Ba.

Recently, heavy rains have submerged Tan Son Nhat's airport parking lot by up to 30 cm, forcing many flights to land elsewhere. In the worst case, the airport may have to be closed if water floods in and causes a transformer in the power station to explode.

According to VNE