VietNamNet Bridge – The country has 330 dams in poor state, including 64 with a capacity of more than one million cubic metres that face the risk of breaking, according to the Irrigation Department.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has urged local authorities to strengthen the reservoirs ahead of the rainy season which has just started in the deep south.

Dang Duy Hien, deputy head of the department's Irrigation Works Management Division, said the department has also sought a review and report on the state of reservoirs.

Hien said to ensure the safety of dams, localities need to carry out some urgent measures like setting up steering committees to monitor reservoirs during storms and floods and creating operating schedules for dams.

Without schedules, many decrepit reservoirs held large volumes of water after rains, and this could lead to their breaking, he said.

As of 2011 the Government had invested more than VND2 trillion (US$95 million) to upgrade dams in poor condition.

But many reservoirs, especially in the central and northern regions, have further deteriorated since there was not enough money to fix them, Hien said.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment has asked the Government to earmark VND500 billion for 29 provinces to repair 85 seriously deteriorated dams this year.

Among central provinces, Ha Tinh needs VND53 billion, it said, followed by Quang Binh with VND46 billion, and Nghe An with VND34 billion.

The country has more than 6,000 dams of various sizes and kinds.

Source: VNS