The western sea dyke in Cà Mau Province is seriously eroded in several sections and needs urgent repair. — VNA/VNS Photo Huỳnh Anh

CÀ MAU — The Cà Mau Province People’s Committee has petitioned the Government to provide nearly VNĐ29 billion (US$1.25 million) to develop three erosion-prevention projects to prevent the western sea dyke from collapsing.

The 108-km long western sea dyke has had four dangerously eroded sections with a total length of 5.3 kilometres in U Minh and Trần Văn Thời districts, according to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Of the total length, 3.25 kilometres are seriously eroded and the dyke could break at any time.

The urgent projects include a 610-metre long eroded section from Hương Mai toward Tiểu Dừa in U Minh District, a 500-metre long eroded section from Nam Kênh Mới, Đá Bạc toward Sào Lưới in Trần Văn Thời District, and a 1,900-metre long eroded section from Ba Tĩnh to T25 in Trần Văn Thời District.  

The eroded sections have little or no protective forests at some sites.

Embankments outside the dyke are imperfect and waves continue to erode the dyke, while dyke areas without embankments are seriously eroded.

Tô Quốc Nam, deputy director of the department, said if the dyke collapsed it would destroy the zoning of farming production because sea water would enter interior freshwater areas and cause saline intrusion.

Many residential areas, State office buildings and infrastructure projects in U Minh and Trần Văn Thời districts would also be affected.

As many as 26,000 households and 90,000ha of farming area are located inside the dyke.

The People’s Committee has also petitioned the Government to allocate a fund of nearly VNĐ24 billion ($1.04 million) to repair the dyke’s eroded sections.

In recent years, the southernmost province has spent VNĐ958 billion ($41.2 million) from various sources to build embankment projects outside the dyke and to prevent erosion at the dyke’s important sections.

The embankment projects have helped recover hundreds of hectares of protective forests which help protect the western sea dyke. However, inclement weather has caused new erosion sections along the dyke.  VNS