Vietnam Gov’t to Invest $311M in Irrigation Projects in Mekong Delta by 2020

Vietnam’s government will invest VND7 trillion ($311 million) in upgrading and build irrigation projects in the Mekong Delta by 2020 to help the region better deal with droughts and salinization, said Nguyen Van Tinh, deputy head of the Directorate of Water Resources under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. In 2016, the region will receive VND2.53 trillion to accelerate projects for coping with droughts and salinization which is mainly caused by numerous Chinese and Lao hydropower plants in the upper stream of the Mekong River. In the 2017-2020, the country will spend VND4.5 trillion on irrigation projects in Ben Tre, Tien Giang, Soc Trang, Kien Giang, and Hau Giang, Mr. Tinh said. In early April, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development asked the country’s highest legislative body National Assembly to allocate over VND45.26 trillion to implement irrigation projects which aim to deal with droughts and salinization. The irrigation projects will be implemented in the Mekong Delta, the Central Highlands and the central region which are most affected by the ongoing drought and salinization. In the 2016, the country needs to spend VND3.77 trillion to build irrigation projects to deal with droughts and salt water intrusion in the 2016-2017 period, the ministry said. The ministry has also sought the parliament’s approval for reducing rice cultivation in the areas prone to droughts and salinization. In addition, the ministry asked the parliament to use nearly VND51.85 trillion from the government bonds in the 2017-2020 to implement large-scale projects which will serve for agricultural restructure and climate change response as well as natural calamities remedy. Of the amount, VND32.4 trillion will be for Mekong Delta, the Central Highlands and the central region. (Nong Nghiep Vietnam – Vietnam Agriculture Apr 21)