Dong Nai river – the sleeping beauty

​Having the advantage of traffic development as well as creating urban landscape along the river, but over the years this potential of Dong Nai River which flows through Bien Hoa city seems to be "sleeping".

Many advantages but little exploitation

Architect Nguyen Manh Dung, Vice Chairman of Dong Nai Association of Architects, said that in Vietnam there are many cities which rivers flow through. However, Dong Nai River which flows through Bien Hoa city has even more advantages other ones. According to Mr. Dung, the rivers flowing through the cities in the South West offer great transport value yet limited historical or cultural value. Meanwhile, the rivers flowing through the cities in the North and the Central have a great cultural and historical value, but they are limited in terms of ability to create riverside scenery and traffic due to their typical flooding condition. Particularly, Dong Nai River passing through Bien Hoa City carries the value of transport, cultural history and the ability to create landscape along the river. "Dong Nai River flowing through Bien Hoa city is rarely flooded. The river surface is very wide, creating beautiful scenery, this is a great advantage for urban development. In addition, there are also many relics and spiritual institutions on both sides of the river, which are its unique values  "Dung said.

Although there are many advantages, however, according to Mr. Dung, the exploitation of the advantages of the Dong Nai river in order to create the beauty for Bien Hoa city has not been done much yet. "These potentials, to this point, almost remain… potential," Dung said.

 According to Mr. Dung, the embankment of Nguyen Van Tri Park is the only project that exploits the potential of the Dong Nai River in the development of Bien Hoa City. "That is too little, but the construction of the embankment of Nguyen Van Tri park in my opinion is also the project that exploits the strength of the river," Mr. Dung emphasized.

According to Mr. Dung, the embankment is built too high compared to the surface of the river, so the interaction between people and river is limited and the value of the river is lost. People walking in the park along the embankment cannot see the surface of the river, or interact with the river so the direct impact of the river to the lives and activities of people is not significant. "Dong Nai River flowing through Bien Hoa city is almost unaffected by flooding, the embankment should have been built low and close to the water surface so people can interact directly with the water. Maybe, we must accept the fact that some areas can be inundated, but the duration is not long. The construction of such high embankments is only suitable for rivers that are frequently affected by floods, "Dung said.

Sharing a great concern for urban development in the riverside area of the city, Chairman of the provincial Union of Science and Technology Association Vy Van Vu said the advantages that Dong Nai River bring to the landscape of Bien Hoa city are very diverse. However, the work of taking advantages of this river is not adequate, meanwhile the city need more features to create its own identity.

Open roads to exploit the riverside advantage

To take the advantages of the river, the city is implementing two roadway projects along Dong Nai river. More specifically, the project along the Cai River is more than 4.5 km long, which connects Ha Huy Giap street (Quyet Thang ward) and Tran Quoc Toan street (An Binh ward). The road is planned to be 32 m wide with 4 lanes. It is estimated that the total investment of the project is approximately VND 3,600 billion. The second project is the road along the Dong Nai River from Hoa An Bridge to the border with Vinh Cuu District with the length of over 5 km. The total investment for this project is nearly VND 1,790 billion.

According to the People's Committee of Bien Hoa City, both projects are calling for investment in the form of PPP (public-private partnership) and BT (build stransfer).

Director of Urban Management Department of Bien Hoa city Doan Van Dong said that investment proposals for both projects are being prepared by investors in accordance with regulations. Assessing the impacts of the two projects, Mr. Dong said that the two projects are roadway construction but not only solving the traffic but also createing the landscape for the city. So, roadway planning also counts for future development.

Sharing the same point, Mr. Vy Van Vu said that the city Hoa has seven key projects, however, the two riverside roadway projects need to be implemented soon to create more conditions to develop the landscape along the river. "We need to focus on these two projects to create an immediate emphasis for Bien Hoa urban landscape," Mr. Vu said.

More than 1,200 households will experience complete land clearance

According to the People's Committee of Bien Hoa city, in order to support the construction of the road along Cai River and the roadway project along Dong Nai River, 1,201 households in the project area will experience complete land clearance. In order to serve the resettlement, the investors have proposed the construction plan for resettlement areas with more than 27 hectares.

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