Bangkok’s giant drainage tunnel ready for ‘rainy season’

Bangkok deputy governor Wissanu Sapsompol says the city’s giant drainage tunnel will be fully operational for the “rainy season.”

The new Bueng Nong Bon drainage tunnel, which began construction in January 2016, was not expected to be finished until March next year. But the city’s deputy governor insists it will be ready just in time for the kingdom’s rainy season due to start next month.

Wissanu says the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has outlined plans to use the drainage tunnel in Prawet district, and the Bang Ao pump station in Bang Na will help speed up the flow of excess water into the Chao Phraya River.

The former deputy rector of Chulalongkorn University added the BMA would open the completed drainage tunnels to help mitigate any abundance of water in the city during the rainy season, and says they have the potential to protect 85 square kilometres of the metropolis from flooding.

The Bueng Nong Bon tunnel is 5 metres in diameter and runs for almost 9.5 kilometres at a depth of 30 metres. Originating at the Nong Bon Swamp, it passes beneath the Nong Bon and Ta Chang canals, Srinakarin and Udomsuk roads, Sukhumvit 101/1 and the Bang Ao canal.

BMA’s Department of Drainage and Sewerage says work on the tunnel is about 91.5% complete.

The department added the tunnel is intended to address the historical overflows on Udomsuk Road and Sukhumvit 101/1 and along the Bang Ao canal, which will benefit the districts of Prawet, Suan Luang, Bang Na, and Phra Khanong.

The new tunnel will also support the Bueng Nong Bon reservoir, which has a storage capacity of 7 million cubic metres of water.

SOURCE Bangkok Post