The planned evolution of Thu Duc City presents immense opportunities guiding strategic investments to enable a sustainable and resilient development of the city. Given the importance of Thu Duc City for HCMC’s and Viet Nam’s future development, the development outcomes will provide a strong showcase for best practices in urban investment and management in Viet Nam and potentially worldwide. In February 2022, the World Bank Group (WBG) and Thu Duc CPC therefore agreed an actionable plan of technical assistance and investment support. In order to enhance the resilience of the future city against said flooding and incorporate flood protection interventions into the overall urban planning process, WBG identified a rapid flood assessment under the technical assistance programme being this assignment.

The main objectives of this assignment are:

• Development of strategic recommendations for adapting Thu Duc City to flood risk in the future. The potential solution directions for sustainable flood risk management need to inform the dialogue between the CPC and the WBG about the sustainable and climate sensitive development of Thu Duc City. A rapid assessment of the flood prone areas in Thu Duc City and the associated flood risk has therefore been undertaken in this assignment. Recommendations are provided about the solution directions for sustainable flood risk management for the short, medium and longer term. The recommendations are based on a high-level feasibility and cost-benefit assessment and have a preliminary character given the short time span in which they have been formulated;
• Development of an initial roadmap towards effective flood risk management in Thu Duc City. The identified structural and non-structural flood risk management interventions are prioritized, and low regret measures are identified. A basic roadmap is prepared for the implementation of the proposed structural and non-structural flood risk management measures. Opportunities for realizing co-benefits and co-funding are highlighted;
• The recommendations from this assignment provide a vision and strategic concept for future flood risk management in Thu Duc City in a way that directly contributes to the longer-term city’s development (‘optimistic’ flood risk management). They are addressing where and how, the flood risk reduction interventions can be developed making using of grey and green measures. These measures include among others the improvement of the drainage systems with open canals and pipes, sluice gates and pumped (polder) systems, and hard and nature-based measures to facilitate temporary retention and storage of excess urban flood waters. The identified solution directions are meant to be effectively integrated into the city’s master plan for urban development. Flood retention and storage areas have the potential of adding significant value to the urban environment by allowing citizens to recreate and providing green areas during times without excessive rain.