VietNamNet Bridge – The Cai Lon – Cai Be irrigation project in the Mekong Delta has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, according to Le Hong Linh, director of the ministry’s Irrigation Work Investment and Construction Management Board No 10.

Workers from the Vi Thuy District Division of Agriculture and Rural Development check salinity in the Cai Lon River in the southern province of Hau Giang. The Cai Lon – Cai Be irrigation project is expected to help control salinity in the river. — VNA/VNS Photo Duy Khuong

The project, which will connect the Cái Lớn River to the Cái Bé River in the Delta, is expected to improve agricultural and aquaculture production, control salinity, fight the effects of climate change, and supply freshwater to An Minh and An Bien districts during periods of low rainfall. 

Construction on the first phase of the project, slated to be completed by the end of 2021, will occur in Chau Thanh District on 54.5 hectares of land. It will cost over VND3.309 trillion, of which VND3.3 trillion will be from government bonds.

Pham Vu Hong, chairman of Kien Giang People’s Committee, said the project would help combat climate change (which the province is especially susceptible) and will bring value to the area and nearby regions.

The People’s Committee and Kien Giang’s National Assembly delegates strongly backed the project, and local authorities said they consulted experts about the project.

Nguyen Van Dong, director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Hau Giang Province, said that it would be preferable to have either freshwater or saline water since a mixture of the two is problematic.

As part of the project, local farmers will receive training on how to adapt to climate change.

Earlier, many experts had expressed concern about the project and questioned its importance and effectiveness.

Professor Le Anh Tuan from Can Tho University, for instance, said that it would harm the biodiversity of the region, and that the building of a system to keep out salinity and preserve freshwater could pollute freshwater due to chemicals from farming.

Professor Duong Van Ni from the university said that farmers were using saltwater for aquaculture, and questioned how the control of salinity would affect that. He also said the lack of diversity in farming products is the issue, not the problem of salinity and freshwater.

Construction on the irrigation project is slated to begin near the end of this year. 

Source: VNS