Flooding inflicted heavy damage on a mountainous area in the northern province of Bac Kan in July.

A major project to evacuate people from localities vulnerable to natural disasters in Vietnam is stuck for want of funds and arable land for relocated residents.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2006 started a project to move more than 173,000 families by 2015 away from areas that have high potential to be hit by flooding, landslides and land erosion in the Red River and Mekong deltas, the central coastal and the northern mountainous regions.

So far more than 57,700 families have been moved, but the ministry now lacks funds to continue the project.

Deputy agriculture minister Ho Xuan Hung said nearly 15.600 families need to be moved urgently by 2010.

The government has spent VND200-300 billion (US$11-16.7 million) every year on the evacuation, but this has only met half of the real demand, the Ministry of Investment and Planning reported at the meeting.

Many local governments have not shown enough concern for the project and released some of their own budget to move more residents faster, it said.

Natural disasters were killing many people and damaging much of their property every year, the ministry said.

No land

The agriculture ministry said at the meeting that getting enough land for relocation, especially arable land where relocated families could resume their cultivation was another major difficulty, the newswire Vnexpress reported.

Agriculture minister Cao Duc Phat said his ministry would ask the government to allot more funds for the project, portions of which will be spent to offer residents a proper livelihood in their new homes.

Under a new proposal which was approved by city and provincial leaders at the meeting, each family will be supported with VND15-25 million, depending on how far they have to move. Families losing productive land will receive VND30 million.

Officers said at the meeting that the project has not only saved the residents from too much damage caused by the disasters but also protected the environment.

Reported by Quang Duan