Houses in an rosion-prone area in Vi Thanh city of Hau Giang province (Photo: VNA)Hau Giang (VNA) – Nearly 9,000 households withtens of thousands of people in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang are beingaffected by riverbank erosion and need to be relocated early to ensure theirsafety.
Among them, more than 1,000 households reside inareas with high risk of erosion, Nguyen Trong Uyen, head of the southern branchof the National Institute of Agricultural Planning and Projection, said at arecent meeting.
Erosion occurs mainly along the Cai Con, CaiDau, Mai Dam, Nga Sau and Xa No rivers. It is triggered by the movement ofhigh-speed boats and uncontrolled sand exploitation on rivers which changes theflowing direction of rivers and canals.
Mushrooming construction along riverbank andclimate change impacts, including sea level rise, have also deterioratederosion, he noted.
Nguyen Van Phien, Vice Chairman of the ChauThanh district People’s Committee, said erosion on local rivers and canals isgrowing more frequent and serious. Hundreds of influenced families now need tobe resettled in better places. However, his district has no residential landareas that are big enough to settle them.
The national institute branch said Hau Giangshould build concentrated residential areas to relocate households in high-riskareas, or settle them in existing communities which are in safer places.Meanwhile, authorities should assist families in low-risk areas to settle downright in these areas.
The branch estimated that nearly 600 billion VND(26.37 million USD) will be needed to relocate people in erosion-prone areasfrom now to 2030, mainly to build concentrated residential areas, upgradeinfrastructure in existing communities to receive affected families, and providedirect assistance to displaced people./.
VNA
