Dong Thap to spend big to upgrade erosion-resistant infrastructure
The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap has earmarked over a trillion of VND on the construction and upgrade of structures designed to prevent erosion along Tien and Hau riverbanks, helping minimise losses caused by natural disasters.
The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap has earmarked over a trillion of VND on the construction and upgrade of structures designed to prevent erosion along Tien and Hau riverbanks. (Photo: VNA)
Dong Thap (VNA) – The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap has earmarkedover a trillion of VND on the construction and upgrade of structures designedto prevent erosion along Tien and Hau riverbanks, helping minimise lossescaused by natural disasters.
According to Vice Director of the provincial Department of Natural Resourcesand Environment Huynh Van Nguyen, the province has prioritised capital forseveral key projects in response to climate change, including 175 billion VND (7.5million USD) for the upgrade of embankments in Chau Thanh district’s An Hiepcommune during 2017-2020, over 800 billion VND for the same work of embankmentsand construction of a drainage system along Tien river in Cao Lanh city during2016-2020, and 271 billion VND sourced from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) fora project to prevent erosion along Tien river in Hong Ngu district’s ThuongThoi Tien township, among others.
The province has ordered communes, wards and townships to prepare responsemeasures for erosion-prone areas, he said, adding competent agencies have kept aclose watch on and keep local residents updated with erosion situation in thelocalities, while resettling people from the dangerous sites.
Besides, Dong Thap will continue planning, develop more resettlement houses torelocate people, and accelerate the construction of embankment works.
Along with enhancing inspections against sand exploitation activities,especially in areas hard hit by erosion, the province has paid due attention tothe dredging of irrigational works, canals and rivers to change the water flowso as to reduce erosion.
Local authorities have reported the number of severe erosion incidents has increasedrapidly in recent time. Dong Thap province loses average 30-50 hectares of landto erosion.
The province experienced 49 erosion cases along its rivers, with a combinedlength of 28.5 kilometres, according to Vice Director of the provincialDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development Vo Thanh Ngoan. He said 17hectares of land were swept away, resulting in a financial loss of over 40billion VND.
It mobilised and supported 343 households in erosion-prone areas to move tosafer places. More than 6,000households in the province are still living in danger zones, and need to berelocated soon.
Currently, there are 85 active erosion sites along the Tien and Hau rivers.-VNA
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The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap has earmarked over a trillion of VND on the construction and upgrade of structures designed to prevent erosion along Tien and Hau riverbanks. (Photo: VNA) 
