Society
Deputy PM, FM Bùi Thanh Sơn receives World Bank Vice President
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| Sông Bung 2 hydro-power plant stands on the Vu Gia-Thu Bồn River. The overloaded operations of hydro-power plants threaten the destruction of the river system. — VNS Photo Lê Lâm |
Viet Nam News
ĐÀ NẴNG — After years of discussions and negotiations, Đà Nẵng City and Quảng Nam Province inked an agreement on Wednesday on integrated management of the Vu Gia-Thu Bồn river basin and Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng coastline.
Vice chairman of the central Quảng Nam Province’s People’s Committee, Lê Trí Thanh said the co-management agreement ensures mutual benefit that harmonises water resources with sustainable development.
He said the agreement was made by the two localities with support from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition-International (ISET-International).
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| A section of Vu Gia-Thu Bồn River. Đà Nẵng City and Quảng Nam Province agreed on integrated management of the Vu Gia-Thu Bồn river basin and Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng coastline after years of discussions and negotiations. — VNS Photo Công Thành |
Thanh said the partners will set up a Quảng Nam-Đà Nẵng joint committee that involves experts and managers on ‘Integrated watershed and coastal management – ‘from ridge to reef’ approach in the river basin.
As scheduled, the river’s observation system will be installed under the cost of the two locals’ budget.
The river basin, which has more than 10,300sq.km with water volume of 20.22 billion cubic metres, covers on total 225km length on Quảng Nam and Đà Nẵng and provides invaluable resources to the 2.5 million population of the two localities.
However, a series of problems - including illegal destruction of riverhead forests, over-exploitation of mineral resources, decentralised management of rivers and faulty development of hydropower plants - have threatened to destroy the river.
A total of 42 hydropower plant projects have been built in the river, while more than 820 irrigation projects with 72 reservoirs have been built in the river basin.
The operation of hydropower plants in upstream rivers in Quảng Nam Province often cause a clean water deficit during every dry season in Đà Nẵng. — VNS
