Ca Mau asked to work harder on coastal erosion prevention

Ca Mau (VNA) - Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung has visited the southernmost province of Ca Mau to inspect landslide points along a sea dyke route in Tran Van Thoi district, which is at risk of breaking.

Dung praised the province’s efforts to overcome the aftermaths of the landside, saying the ministry plans to propose the Government spend nearly 74 billion VND (over 3.2 million USD) to support Ca Mau in the work.

Ca Mau Ca should prioritise overcoming serious and urgent landslides, focusing on arranging residential areas for local residents living in high-risk areas, he said, adding that attention should also be paid to protecting dykes in tandem with planting protective forests.

According to Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Tien Hai, serious landslides occurred along nearly 300m of the sea dyke in Khanh Binh Tay commune in the district early this month.

Local authorities have mobilised forces and means, and taken temporary solutions to reinforce the dyke, with the reinforcement basically completed.

However, due to increasingly complicated weather conditions, the dyke rupture may occur because this area has no protection forest belt, and the protection embankment is not large enough to protect it from sea waves.

Over the last 12 years, the province has lost nearly 9,000 hectares of coastal forests. About 57km of the western coast has suffered landslides, and the sea dyke is at high risk of damage.

Meanwhile, erosion has also occurred on the eastern coast with a total length of 48 km, with many deep sections, causing losses of 80-100m of protective forest per year.

Besides coastal erosion, river bank erosion in Ca Mau province is also an issue, especially in eastern coastal districts such as Dam Doi, Nam Can and Ngoc Hien. From 2018 until now, there has been over 3.4 km of river bank eroded. Through surveys, as many as 27 riverbank erosion locations were reported with total length of nearly 38km.

In the face of these problems, the province proposed the Government provide 702 billion VND (nearly 30.5 million USD) to build urgent embankments to protect the eastern coast, especially at important estuaries and densely populated areas.

Hai  said with great efforts and specific solutions, Ca Mau has overcome erosions for nearly 29km of coastal areas with total investment of some 956 billion (over 41.5 million USD).-VNA