VietNamNet Bridge – Illegal sand dredging and storage is destroying dyke systems along the banks of the Red River in Ha Noi and a shortage of staff and facilities is preventing authorities from controlling the situation.

The city had 29 sand exploitation points but only four fixed points were operating with licences, said vice head of Ha Noi Police's Waterway Traffic Police Department Nguyen Van Cuong.

Other mobile stations were operating without licences, mostly in the districts of Tu Liem, Son Tay, Phuc Tho, Dong Anh, Long Bien, Hoang Mai and Phu Xuyen, he added.

Cuong's office is responsible for 280 km of city waterways including the Red, Duong and Da Rivers.

"Illegal sand exploiters are using ever more complicated tricks or even violence against authorities," said Cuong. They refused to show licences, ran away or didn't allow police to inspect their cargoes, he explained.

Violators usually chose desolated border areas between districts to dredge sand. This helped elude authorities easily, said vice head of Waterway Police Team No1 Khuat Hong Son.

It costs VND70,000-80,000 (US$3.5-4) to exploit a cubic metre of sand from the river but people can sell this on for VND200,000-350,000 ($10-18), which leads people, mostly poor, to ignore the risks.

Cuong said the city did not have enough space for holding vehicles that had violated the law. Most of the seized cargo was kept at Son Tay Town Port and Thuong Tin District's Hong Van Port.

"There is no standard location to keep the seized cargo in good condition," he said.

Adding to the problem, only 32 of the operators of the more than 200 facilities for storing sand and gravel in the city held licences.

At half the grounds, authorities found sand or gravel gathered from river banks and dykes. This had changed the rivers' flow and caused landslides.

Do Duc Thinh, director of the municipal Food Control and Dyke Management Department said that the collapse of the Red River embankment in suburban Son Tay Town's Phu Thinh Ward in October was evidence of the overexploitation of embankments.

In the incident, three workshops and two diggers were reportedly dumped into the water. The land slide affected 3,000 sq.m and occurred just 30-40 metres from the dyke's footing, said Thinh.

The municipal Waterway Traffic Police Department has recorded 3,300 violations this year, double last year's figure. Most involved illegal sand exploitation and police have issued fines of about VND2.5 billion ($125,000),.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News