As the likely impacts of climate change become clearer, top officials of some provinces in the Mekong Delta confirmed that cooperative responses were at the top of their agendas.

Climate change scenarios will guide Government’s planners

The Deputy Mayor of Can Tho City says that the city has proposed that ministries and central agencies join with threatened provinces and cities to plan joint responses that protect the water resources of the Hau Giang (Lower Mekong) and cope with climate change in the Mekong Delta.

Nguyen Thanh Son said that emerging problems are too big for individual provinces to confront alone, giving toxic waste treatment and disposal as an example. It is urgent that the central ministries and local governments coordinate responses to climate change threats for the whole Mekong Delta in Son’s view. The Can Tho official also called for a united front against plans to build a series of dams on the upper Mekong in China’s Yunnan province and in Laos, saying “both central and local agencies must combine closely to struggle with the upstream countries building hydro-power dams on the Mekong River.”

Bui Cong Buu, Chairman of the Ca Mau Provincial People’s Committee (PPC), says increasingly severe storms make better protection for fishing boats an urgent matter. Some 4000 fishing boats from Ca Mau and many from other provinces exploit the seas off the Ca Mau coast.

According to a plan approved by the Prime Minister, Ca Mau province is to have six shelters for fishing boats, including two of regional scope. So far, however, only the shelter at Song Doc has been completed. Another one at Rach Goc is under construction. The province has approved plans for the Cai Doi Vam and Khanh Hoi shelters, but it doesn’t have capital for these projects.

Ca Mau’s Chairman asked that the Government provide 10 billion dong for each storm shelter project this year.

An Giang PPC Deputy Chairman Vuong Binh Thanh urges that the Government speed up the development of Delta transportation infrastructure, including roads, railways and waterways.

Thanh said that poor transportation infrastructure is the greatest weakness of the Delta region. With a better inter-regional transportation system, provinces in the delta would be better able to assist each other during incidents caused by climate change. The An Giang official proposed that the government pay particular attention to the transport system along the Hau River and into Cambodia.

Research on climate change indicates that rural areas will be the hardest-hit regions because of limited response ability. To improve their ability to respond to climate changes, a Deputy Chairman of the Kien Giang PPC calls for increasing investment in developing the rural power grid for rural areas.

“Only 20 billion dong a year from the state budget for the rural power grid is too little,” says Van Ha Phong. He explains that power companies are not keen on developing the power grid in the rural areas because costs are high, and therefore profits are low. Electricity in the countryside is both inadequate and weak. In many places, the current is only strong enough for lighting; it will not power machines, Phong said.

VietNamNet/Tien Phong