Mekong erosion damages property

Erosion is affecting many areas in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, causing property damage and interruption of business production.

In Ca Mau Province, Nam Can District has had 23 riverbank erosion cases in the first half of the year, causing property damage of VND2.5 billion (US$119,000), according to the district's People's Committee.

Ngo Chi Hieu, head of the district's People's Committee Office, said households that produce shrimp and crab fry had suffered the most.


Some households that sell products in the local market have had to spend hundreds of millions of dong to build embankments along the river in front of their houses.

In Tien Giang Province's Cho Gao District, several sections of the Cho Gao Canal have eroded deep inland, affecting transport and business production.

Le Van My, deputy chairman of the Cho Gao District People's Committee, said that canal erosion had affected Road No. 25, the main road linking Cho Gao Town with the district's seven communes.

The number of barges that transport construction sand and rocks on the canal every day is a major cause of erosion, he said.

Only 2km of embankments have been built along the Cho Gao Canal, which extends 296 km. Construction of the project began at the end of last year.

This week, flood waters of the Mekong River affected upstream areas in An Giang and Dong Thap provinces.

In Dong Thap Province, the provincial People's Committee has instructed local authorities in Lai Vung and Hong Ngu districts to take steps to prevent river erosion, including relocating people out of eroded areas.

Erosion has been a problem since 2010 along the Lap Vo River in Lai Vung's Tan Duong Commune, especially in the flood season.

Erosion of the river has extended 230 metres and 1-4 metres inland in Tan Thuan A Hamlet.

Vo Hung Dung, deputy director of the An Giang Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said every year five to 10 erosion cases occur in An Giang, causing a loss of 15-20 ha of farmland.

The weak structure of soil along riverbanks, the strong river flow in the rainy and flood season, and the wavy structure of some rivers all contributes to erosion.

Other causes of erosion include illegal sand mining, houses built near riverbanks, floating cages that breed fish and other aquatic species in rivers, and dykes built to prevent water from entering rice fields, he said.