PM Nguyen Tan Dung has asked local governments to check and update their development plans based on the scripts of climate change in Vietnam.

The Government Office has issued the PM’s instructions at a meeting with the National Steering Board for Confronting Climate Change. Accordingly, the PM asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to cooperate with other agencies to review the procedure on running hydro-power reservoirs to ensure safety. He asked the MoIT to have policies to encourage the development of energy generated from wind, tide and sun.

He also instructed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to check plans to combat natural disaster and the planning of irrigation works, particularly the system of dikes. This ministry has been told to set up a council to evaluate the safety of irrigation and hydro-power reservoirs.

After typhoons Ketsana and Mirinae, it was said that hydro power plants in the central region made the flood worse. The Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen had to explain this to National Assembly deputies at the latest NA session.

Typhoon Ketsana killed 174 people, causing losses of more than 14 trillion dong while typhoon Mirinae killed 120.

PV