Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee CaoVan Trong said the biggest problem at present is the shortage of funds, whichmake it difficult for the locality to implement irrigation projects to preventsalinity, reserve fresh water and expand the fresh water supplying network tocoastal districts.
To cope with the dry season in 2017, theprovince has carried out a number of short-and long-term projects.
More than 110 km of canals have been dredged, 73km of embankments were upgraded, and a fresh water reservoir is being built witha designed capacity of about 800,000 cubic meters in Ba Tri district.
Construction of temporary dams is underway inChau Thanh, Giong Trom, Ba Tri, and Mo Cay Bac districts, and hundreds of sluicegates have been repaired.
Local people were encouraged to store rainwaterand freshwater for daily use and production.
In the long run, Ben Tre will continue makinguse of all financial resources to implement projects improving irrigationinfrastructure and water resources management.
According to the provincial hydrometeorologyforecast centre, salt water with salinity of up to 0.4 percent has infiltrated38-46 km inland.-VNA