THỪA THIÊN- HUẾ — Residents of the central Thừa Thiên-Huế Province gathered in Lăng Cô Bay to protest the construction of a stone dyke that they say will affect water flow in the bay.

Locals from An Cư Đông Village, which is located by the bay, protest that the dyke, being built in the buffer waters that connects the ocean and Lập An Lagoon, is blocking water, causing deposits near the bank where it is being built and leading to landslides on the opposite bank.

The dyke is a part of the new Hải Vân Bridge, an ongoing Hải Vân Tunnel expansion project to connect the province and Đà Nẵng City. The dyke is 230m long and 7m wide, and work on it is nearly complete.

“The dyke has increased the strength of the water flow, and is leading to landslides on the opposite bank. And the strong currents are making it hard for our fishing boats to move in and out of the bay,” said village chief Nguyễn Văn Hoàng.

Hoàng explained that the currents made it tough for boats to go out from the bay, and difficult to control the boats coming back in to dock. As a result, some of the fishermen’s boats have got smashed, he said.

Around 300 households in the village - and each household has at least one boat - have boats that go in and out of the bay every day for fishing.

Villagers have also reported that their houses are getting damaged because of landslides.

Dương Đăng Trung, chairman of Lăng Cô District, under which the village comes, said local authorities are working with the dyke contractor and have gained consensus on compensation for damaged boats and houses. The contractor will also build culverts into the dyke to ease the water flow in the bay.

Lê Đình Huy, deputy manager of the bridge construction project, said culverts would be installed. The dyke is only for temporary use and will be removed after the bridge is constructed, he added. The expansion of Hải Vân Tunnel to four lanes is scheduled to be completed in 2020.

Questions have been raised about the tunnel expansion plan as there are concerns about potential danger when the contractor starts to use the wind tunnel that runs along the main tunnel for expansion. — VNS