Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City has decided to build, from now to 2020, new roads with total length of 272 km and 76 bridges, as well as several wastewater treatment plants, local media reported Tuesday.

Ho Chi Minh City should be capable of meeting 15-20 percent of demand for public transport service, and stopping the flooding in its downtown and part of nearby districts with a total area of 550 square kilometers and a population of some 6.5 million people by 2020, daily newspaper Tuoi Tre (Youth) quoted the municipal People's Council, the city's legislative body.

From 2016 to 2018, Ho Chi Minh City will complete construction of three wastewater treatment plants and expand an existing plant. In the 2019-2020 period, it will build additional four wastewater treatment plants and expand another existing one.

By 2020, the city will have completed the relocation of 20,000 makeshift houses on and along canals, as well as construction or renovation of 50 percent of 474 degraded apartment blocks.