The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho will move 2,514 households residing in erosion-prone areas to safer places before 2020, said Director of the Municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Pham Van Quynh.

In 2015 alone, Can Tho aims to relocate 557 households living on the bank of the Hau, Can Tho, Tra Noc, and Phong Dien Rivers, as well as the Khai Luong Ditch and Bo Ot Canal, he said at the department’s meeting on January 7.

Each household will receive 5 million VND (238 USD) to assist with their relocation with the additional option of a loan of at least 30 million VND (over 1,428 USD) if needed, Quynh noted, adding that more than 390 households will be resettled each year between 2016 to 2020.

The Can Tho Department of Construction said the city is carrying out 36 housing projects which can serve more than 6,000 relocated households. It is also spending 3.5 trillion VND (166.6 million USD) on building anti-erosion embankments, with the largest to be constructed on the bank of the Can Tho River.

Quynh said hundreds of sites along local riverbank are currently vulnerable to erosion, and dozens of erosion incidents have happened since 2012. Recently, erosion at Long Hoa market near the Cam canal killed two and injured five while another two people died and tens of houses were washed away when the access roads of My Khanh and Tra Nien Bridges were eroded.

To minimise erosion-related incidents, local authorities are recommending residents not build houses near riverbanks and grow grass and plant bamboo posts to reinforce ground soil.

VNA