A riverbank in Tay Yen commune, An Bien district, Kien Giang province suffering from severe erosion.

Erosion has occurred in districts including An Bien, An Minh, Hon Dat, Giong Rieng, U Minh Thuong, Chau Thanh, Giang Thanh and Rach Gia city.

The total river erosion length is about 195km, of which 25km is very serious. Total seaside erosion is more than 64km, with more than 30km very serious.

Nguyen Van Tam, Director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the Kim Quy rivulet mouth in Van Khanh commune, An Minh district, had been critically eroded by about 300m.

Several houses were damaged due to the erosion, while the electricity system also faces high risk because erosion has affected electric poles.

Tam said the department proposed the provincial people’s committee to declare an urgent dangerous situation at the Kim Quy rivulet mouth and issue expenses to repair the dyke system.

Mai Anh Nhin, Deputy Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said that to improve the situation, more than 1 trillion VND (42.7 million USD) was needed.

Last year, the provincial People’s Committee asked the government to support the province with about 300 billion VND (12.8 million USD) to improve serious erosion parts and the proposal was accepted.

The province received 172 billion VND (7.3 million USD) from the World Bank’s loans to build coastal protection works with length of 10km in An Minh district.

It received 50 billion VND (2.1 million USD) from the State reserve budget to improve 2.5km of erosion in An Bien district, and 80 billion VND (3.4 million USD) from the fund for climate change and green growth to deal with dangerous landslides in Hon Dat district.

Nhin said the province sees building seaside protective works as an urgent task.-VNA