The smart pump system was designed by the Quang Trung Industry Group.
According to Thanh Nien, Saigon authorities recently signed a seven-year rental contract to use the pump system on the flood-prone street Nguyen Huu Canh. The pump system was previously installed in 2018 as part of a pilot program to address flooding. However, local authorities and the corporation couldn't reach an agreement on its operation.
At that time, Quang Trung Industry Group wanted the city to pay VND24.4 billion per year for the system, but city authorities didn't agree and still wanted to further assess the pump system's efficiency to make sure they were getting their money's worth.
In September 2018, Quang Trung Industry Group turned off the pump system because a VND30 billion payment for the construction fee was not made by the HCMC anti-flooding agency. A month later, the agency agreed to pay the construction money and the pump system was turned on again.
Now, city authorities and Quang Trung Industry Group just agreed on a VND14.2 billion annual deal for the system. However, if the pump is not effective, there will be no payment.
"This fee is significantly lower than the corporation's investment but as we have said this before, we designed the anti-flooding system out of the genuine hope that Saigon residents won't have to deal with floods in the future. We have to accept this price that city authorities offered since we have already pursued this matter many times in the past," a representative from Quang Trung Industry Group told Thanh Nien.
[Photo via VnExpress]
