LookAtVietnam – The city has dealt with only 417 out of the 4,408 cases of dyke violations this month, according to Director of the municipal Flood and Dyke Management Department Do Duc Thinh.

Repairs to a dyke in the Dan Phuong area of Ha Noi are scheduled to end before the approach of the rainy season. About 70 per cent of the work has been completed.

Thinh said more serious violations like houses and other solid constructions had not been cleared from dykes yet.

Department statistics show that 26 of the 29 districts in the city have set up steering boards to deal with the violations.

“However, only six districts have cleared [structures] which violate dyke regulations,” said Thinh.

Some districts had proposed to prolong the clearance deadline to mid July, he said.

Of the 761 cases settled in Ung Hoa district, half of the city’s total violations, only five were serious violations.

Thuong Tin district cleared 23 of the 325 cases and Phu Xuyen district cleared two of the 96.

“These violations are exposing the city to danger by making dykes less effective [in preventing flooding] from storms,” Thinh said.

Historic floods last year caused several landslides in Dan Phuong district.

Thinh said that the 36km dyke on the Day river’s left bank was now flood-prone due to serious violations.

“Districts have not taken drastic enough measures to handle the violations,” he said. Instead they settled simple violations like illegal occupancy and dumping.

He said that local officials were often reluctant to enforce the law because they had friends and relatives who had built illegally on dykes.

Thinh said the municipal People’s Committee would send official documents to districts, asking them to clear away violations swiftly.

Fund for dyke safety

According to the municipal Agriculture and Rural Development Department, People’s Committee deputy chairman Trinh Duy Hung last week approved a project to strengthen the dyke and embankment system.

The project, with a total investment of VND61.5 billion (US$3.5 million), will focus on repairing and building irrigation works and dykes on the Duong river next year to prevent flooding in the capital.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News