Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)

The 108-km long western sea dyke has had four dangerously eroded sections with a total length of 5.3 kilometres in U Minh and Tran Van Thoi districts, according to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Of the total length, 3.25 kilometres are seriously eroded and the dyke could break at any time.

The urgent projects include a 610-metre long eroded section from Huong Mai toward Tieu Dua in U Minh district, a 500-metre long eroded section from Nam Kenh Moi, Da Bac toward Sao Luoi in Tran Van Thoi district, and a 1,900-metre long eroded section from Ba Tinh to T25 in Tran Van Thoi district.

The eroded sections have little or no protective forests at some sites.

Embankments outside the dyke are imperfect and waves continue to erode the dyke, while dyke areas without embankments are seriously eroded.

To Quoc Nam, deputy director of the department, said if the dyke collapsed it would destroy the zoning of farming production because sea water would enter interior freshwater areas and cause saline intrusion.

Many residential areas, State office buildings and infrastructure projects in U Minh and Tran Van Thoi districts would also be affected.

As many as 26,000 households and 90,000ha of farming area are located inside the dyke.

The provincial People’s Committee has also petitioned the Government to allocate a fund of nearly 24 billion VND (1.04 million USD) to repair the dyke’s eroded sections.

In recent years, the southernmost province has spent 958 billion VND (41.2 million USD) from various sources to build embankment projects outside the dyke and to prevent erosion at the dyke’s important sections.

The embankment projects have helped recover hundreds of hectares of protective forests which help protect the western sea dyke. However, inclement weather has caused new erosion sections along the dyke./.VNA

Ca Mau declares landslide emergency at western sea dykes

The People’s Committee of the southernmost province of Ca Mau has announced an emergency situation as landslide has occurred at many sections of the sea dykes along the western coast in the locality.