More than 385 km of river and sea dykes in the southern province of KienGiang have been damaged, posing great danger to local people,especially as the rainy season is coming.
Themost serious damage is seen at the 200-km sea dyke from Mui Nam (HaTien) to Tieu Dua (An Minh) bordering southernmost Ca Mau province, theprovincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment said, addingthat the cost for dyke repair would exceed the local budget’s ability.
Experts said besides impacts from climate changeand rising sea level, the sea dykes suffer from the loss of protectivecoastal forests.
Meanwhile, heavy traffic in rivers coupled with floods put great pressure on river embankments.
According to Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee LamHoang Sa, a project sponsored by the Vietnamese and German Governmentswill come into force in 2015 to restore and develop protective forest incoastal areas.
In addition, under a masterplan on developing a multi-purpose irrigation system for the MekongDelta, Kien Giang will receive investment to upgrade its sea dykes and anumber of major river embankment sections. A number of irrigationalworks will also be built to prevent land erosion along rivers andcoastal areas.
In the immediate future, thelocal authorities will do their utmost to reinforce affected areas andplant trees to restore mangrove forest to cope with the coming rainyseason.-VNA