Repelling subsidence, landslides, and flooding in the Mekong Delta: Commitments must be implemented

Accompanying the Prime Minister were Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dang Quoc Khanh, leaders of the Central ministries and branches, leaders of Mekong Delta localities, and scientists.

On August 11, by helicopter and car, the Prime Minister and delegation inspected the situation of coastal landslides in many areas, such as Vinh Chau town of Soc Trang province; Nha Mut sea area and Ganh Hao estuary of Bac Lieu province; and sea areas including Hoc Nang, Vam Quay, and Rach Goc of Ngoc Hien district, Dam Doi district, and Dat Mui area of Ca Mau province.

On the morning of August 12, the Prime Minister and delegation continued to survey the West sea dike area of Ca Mau province; embankments against landslides in the residential area of the South Dong Ho belt, Ha Tien city, Kien Giang province; the embankment line to protect the residential area of Chau Phong commune, Tan Chau district, An Giang province; and the Ho Co embankment and landslide points of Dong Thap province.

On the afternoon of August 12, the Prime Minister had a meeting with leaders of ministries and branches and leaders of provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region to assess the situation, analyze causes, determine objectives, tasks, and solutions, and allocate resources to cope with subsidence, landslides, and flooding in the region.

Research the sea-encroaching border dike solution

Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highlighted that the survey and working trip aimed to continue implementing the resolutions of the Party, National Assembly, and Government in the spirit of “Do not sacrifice social progress and justice for merely economic growth," as General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong directed.

The Prime Minister emphasized the requirement of "talking the talk, walking the walk", "commitments must be implemented", and "implementation must gain specific and measurable results. Each agency proactively, promptly, actively, and effectively implements assigned tasks according to its functions, duties, and powers.

The Prime Minister clearly stated that there are still some difficulties and problems in coping with subsidence, landslides, and flooding. The development of subsidence, landslides, and flooding took place strongly and complicatedly, with a lack of resources to invest in prevention.

In addition, a number of prevention and control structures have not been invested radically, effectively, and sustainably. Many resources have not been mobilized for landslide prevention and control, mostly relying on the state budget and central resources. The work of structure maintenance is still limited.

Therefore, the Prime Minister emphasized the following objectives: preventing and repelling subsidence, landslides, and flooding in the Mekong Delta; preserving, developing, and exploiting sustainably forests, forest land, and mineral resources; promoting production and business; creating livelihoods for people; replanning survival and production spaces; and protecting the ecological environment.

In the short term, the Prime Minister requested localities actively support stabilizing the lives of households in areas affected by landslides (temporary accommodation, resettlement). Actively relocate households in high-risk areas for landslides and avoid being passive and unexpected, which leads to loss of life when landslides occur.

Continue to handle and overcome particularly dangerous landslide areas to ensure the safety of people and important infrastructure. Mobilize the localities’ increased revenue, saved expenditure sources, the Central’s reserve budget sources, etc., for this work.

In the long term, the Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to chair and coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to continue to research and identify specific causes of subsidence, landslides, flooding, coastal erosion, and mangrove degradation. Especially, it is necessary to clearly identify the causes for each problem and each area, as well as the main cause, to have a suitable solution for each area.

In some areas, such as Cape Ca Mau, it is necessary to implement large, key, and methodical projects; research and implement the solution of sea-encroaching border dikes at places with suitable conditions (for traffic development, wave break, against landslides and aggressivity, and retaining alluvium for sea encroachment; land fund development with new development space).

Structural solution group

According to the summary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development from reports of localities, since 2016, a total of 779 landslide points with a total length of 1,134 km (river bank: 666 points/744 km; coast: 113 points/390 km) have appeared in the Mekong Delta provinces and cities.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep, the landslide situation in the Mekong Delta has some notable points. Accordingly, the level of landslides is becoming more and more serious. Before 2005, every year, 100 ha were accreted, but in the past 15 years, more than 350 ha have been lost every year. At the same time, landslides occur all year. Instead of mainly occurring in the flood season as in the past, landslides now occur more frequently in the dry season (due to the influence of strong tides).

Facing the increasingly serious situation of riverbank and canal landslides on the river system in the Mekong Delta in general and along the Tien and Hau rivers in particular, over the years, a series of bank protection works have been built to reduce damage caused by bank landslides.

Structural forms of bank protection works are quite diverse and rich, including three main types: folk and rudimentary; semi-permanent; and permanent.

Regarding coastal protection solutions, in the past five years, there have been many structural solutions to protect the coastal strip and mangroves, with two main forms: direct solutions and indirect solutions (offshore wave-reducing dikes).