VietNamNet Bridge – A planned 100-kilometre embankment of reinforced concrete pillars at the West Sea Dyke in southernmost Ca Mau Province will have to be built over a period longer than originally thought because of a lack of funds, according to officials.
The VND3 trillion (US$140 million) needed for the project was beyond the capacity of the province's budget, province leaders have said.

In 2010, the province, as part of a pilot project, began building 300 metres of concrete pillars in front of the West Sea Dyke at the most seriously eroded section of the dyke in U Minh District's Khanh Tien Commune.

The concrete embankment has helped to filter water flow, and silt has formed between the dyke and the embankment.

Mangrove trees, which have been planted in the silt, will help prevent further erosion of the dyke. The concrete embankment, which is 50-100 metres away from shore, is made of two parallel rows of six-metre-high reinforced concrete pillars.

In front of the pillars, bordering the sea, is a row of concrete partitions separated by large rocks that help to slow down the flow of seawater, leaving only silt where mangrove trees can grow.

To Quoc Nam, deputy director of the Ca Mau Province's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the cost for building the entire 100-metre embankment was too high and that the Government needed to offer support.

The Ca Mau People's Committee, which has approved the entire project, plans to spend VND10 billion ($470,000) to build 1,000 metres of embankment along the dyke this year.

Nguyen Van Luy, a local resident living at the new embankment, said that residents now felt more secure about their homes.

"The embankment can stop strong waves, but some seawater can still come and go through the embankment and create silt," he said.

Serious erosion at the West Sea Dyke, which runs through Tran Van Thoi, U Minh and Phu Tan districts and protects agricultural land, has occurred in recent years.

At many of the dyke's several sections, seawater has encroached into the dyke's foundation because many trees have either died or been cut down by residents.

The erosion has the potential to affect nearly 100ha of farmland where 200 families live.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News