Gov’t plans to allocate over VND 3,000 billion for landslides prevention in Mekong Delta

At the working session. Photo: VGP

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc made the promise at his working session with leaders from 13 Mekong Delta provinces and cities on landslide prevention and acceleration of the Trung Luong-My Thuan expresway, in Tien Giang province on September 27.

According to Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, there have been 564 landslide areas with total length of 834km recorded in the region.

Over the past decade,  the Government has allocated VND 16,067 billion for landslide prevention projects in the Mekong Delta  but the amount is not enough, Cuong said.

Cuong also warned that the region would face saltwater intrusion and drought early than normal in the 2019-2020 dry season, asking the local authorities to take concrete measures  to reduce crop losses.

The Mekong Delta has been the country’s biggest rice and fruit hub but it is facing critical challenges due to fast and complicated consequences of climate change.

Regarding the Trung Luong – My Thuan expressway project, PM Phuc repeated his demand that the project must be completed and put into operation prior on April 30, 2021.

The four-lane expressway has total length of about 51 kilometers, with 4.5 kilometers of access roads, and it runs through five outlying districts of the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang.

It starts at the intersection of Than Cuu Nghia T-Junction and HCMC-Trung Luong Expressway and end at the intersection with National Highway 30.

The total approved investment capital for the project is around VND9.6 trillion.

PM Phuc also required inferior levels to start construction of My Thuan 2 bridge by March 2020.

The bridge, connecting Tien Giang and Vinh Long province, is part of the Eastern North-South Expressway project which is divided into 11 sub-projects, including three funded by the State and other eight invested under public-private partnership model ./.

By Thuy Dung