Vietnam’s Dak Nong cries for help as vast farmland falls into river
Sunday, March 17, 2024, 17:17 GMT+7
Authorities in Dak Nong Province have suggested the government identify the cause and work out solutions to severe land collapse along a local river, which has caused over 122 hectares of farmland to fall into the waterway since 2010.
Since late December last year, dozens of meters of a road section collapsed into the Krong No River in the namesake district.
Do Son Lam, a local resident, said his family reclaimed over four hectares of land in the area in 2001 but the land subsidence ravaged over 2.5 hectares.
His family has relocated their house five times but many new cracks have appeared, Lam added.
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| A section of farmland falls into the Krong No River in Dak Nong Province, Vietnam. Photo: Trung Tan / Tuoi Tre |
According to the Krong No District administration, 18 instances of land collapse with a total length of some 10 kilometers were reported along the Krong No River since 2010.
The situation has been increasingly complicated and showed no signs of cessation.
In 2020, the province, located in Vietnam's Central Highlands, spent VND62 billion (US$2.5 million) on an embankment project to halt land subsidence in Nam N’Dir and Dak Nang Communes, Krong No District, but it is like a drop in the ocean as the eroded area is large.
The administration in Krong No District has coordinated with Buon Kuop Hydropower Company to approve six schemes to support land subsidence-hit households since 2010, as the operation of the Buon Kuop hydropower project in the district was supposed to be a cause of the land collapse.
Director of the company Tran Van Khanh said besides the hydropower project, sand exploitation units must also take responsibility for the land erosion.
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| The Dak Nong Province administration has spent VND62 billion (US$2.5 million) on an embankment project to halt land collapse along the Krong No River. Photo: Trung Tan / Tuoi Tre |
The Krong No River is 189 kilometers long and runs through the three Central Highlands provinces of Lam Dong, Dak Lak, and Dak Nong.
The section in Dak Nong alone has a length of 53.3 kilometers, said Le Trong Yen, vice-chairman of the province.
He added that the province had proposed that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment instruct the adjustment of licenses for sand exploitation on the Krong No River.
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| More than 122 hectares of farmland has fallen into the Krong No River in Dak Nong Province, located in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, since 2010. Photo: Trung Tan / Tuoi Tre |
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