In a bid to prevent worsening traffic congestion, Saigon officials have been asked to prohibit the construction of high-rise buildings on heavily used streets.
Tuoi Tre reports that last week the city People's Committee ordered local planning officials to stop giving out permits for the construction of high-rises on streets with poor traffic infrastructure.
Numerous residential areas and large apartment complexes have been built across the city in recent years, but work on upgrading nearby roads often lags behind, resulting in intense traffic pressure.
According to the news source, the Department of Construction has said that licensing authorities need to decide whether the designed capacity of proposed projects is in line with the surrounding area.
The official body is also now working with the Department of Planning and Architecture to coordinate road and building construction. Previously the two departments operated separately in terms of planning.
In other city planning news, Tuoi Tre shares in another article that the city People's Committee is considering a ban on groundwater extraction in areas where the practice could cause serious problems.
Accordingly, the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment has been tasked with creating a map showing which parts of the city face the biggest consequences of groundwater extraction.
Local officials are worried that groundwater may contain chemicals or wastewater, while removing water from the ground can also exacerbate land subsidence and flooding.
Nguyen Thi Thanh My, director of the local environmental department, told the news source that Saigon extracts roughly 681,000 cubic meters of water per day at the moment.
[Photo via Tuoi Tre]
