HÀ NỘI – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has launched a project to ensure the safety of dams in Việt Nam, funded by the government of New Zealand.

The NZ$5 million project will be implemented at Cả river valley in the central provinces of Nghệ An and Hà Tĩnh during the 2016-21 period.

Việt Nam is vulnerable to natural disasters, especially storms and floods, which cause serious damage to life and property, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hà Công Tuấn on Monday.

With climate change, the weather is becoming more and more complicated, and its negative impact is worsening, he noted.

The country is struggling to operate and manage flood prevention systems in river basins and maintain dam safety.

Việt Nam has around 7,000 reservoirs, the state of many of which have been deteriorating, thereby affecting safety standards. In recent years, there have been several dam failures and other incidents that have caused serious loss to life and property. There’s an urgent need for the Government and localities to improve safety levels at dams as well as to better manage natural disasters.

With this project, along with a similar project funded by the World Bank, Việt Nam hopes to improve the quality and operations of dams and water reservoirs.

New Zealand has provided Official Development Assistance to Việt Nam for many projects, especially those related to agriculture and natural disaster risk management, the minister said. Trade between Việt Nam and New Zealand has seen strong growth in recent times, hitting US$1.15 billion in 2016, which is double the amount recorded five years ago, Tuấn added.

Last year, a dam at Sông Bung 2 plant in the central Quảng Nam Province broke after prolonged torrential rains, flooding five lowland communes in Nam Giang District. It swept away two people and three houses, and caused an estimated loss of around VNĐ5 billion ($222,000). – VNS