Inadequacies in the management of the Ta Lam dike section through Do Luong district

Lam dike in Do Luong district passes through the communes of Trang Son, Dong Son, Luu Son, Da Son, Trung Son, Thuan Son and Tran town. Among them, Da Son, Trung Son, Thuan Son are 3 communes with quite long dikes. The remaining communes have shorter dikes, but if based on the Law on Dikes, they are localities that violate the law a lot.

In Luu Son commune, many residential areas are located right on the dike protection corridor. According to the Law on Dikes, the dike protection corridor in residential areas is 5m, outside residential areas on the river side is 20m, and on the field side is 25m. However, there are about 100 households with houses and constructions on the dike protection corridor.

Houses, power lines, and dense vegetation along the dike corridor in Do Luong Town. Photo: Nguyen Long

So why does this situation happen? Through research with some households and local authorities, it is said that before 1978, the dike through these localities was outside the residential area. In 1978, a big flood broke the dike. After that, the dike was moved into residential areas such as: Tran town, Luu Son, Dong Son, Trang Son, Thuan Son. Many households donated land to the state to build the dike. For many households, the dike line goes right through the middle of the land where the family lives, so now the house is on this side of the dike and the garden is on the other side of the dike.

In fact, these households all have land use right certificates, because the family's land has existed since ancient times until now. When the dike was built, the Dike Law had not yet been issued. There were some households that divided residential land for their children in a garden to build a house, which is a violation according to the Dike Law, but the handling is very difficult, because this is their family's land. According to the Dike Law, relocation is required, but it is very complicated because it involves compensation and many other issues.

Mr. Le Dinh Sau - Head of the Do Luong Dyke Management Department said that currently the dike in Do Luong and Thanh Chuong has a small dike surface, an average of 3m, so it is in dire need of expansion. However, to upgrade the dike, according to the regulations of the Department of Natural Disaster Prevention, only dikes with a dike surface width of 6m or more can be upgraded.

The Law on Dykes clearly stipulates that no construction or housing is allowed within the dike protection area, except for works serving flood, storm and flood prevention, auxiliary works and special works. Photo: Nguyen Long

"In order for the protection of the dike corridor to be carried out well, we really hope that the superior agency will have the funding to set up boundary markers of the corridor, relocate households located on the dike corridor and build corridor roads on both sides to facilitate dike management and daily inspection of the route... We request that local authorities of communes with dikes pay more attention to coordinating to handle violations when they first arise to limit threats to dike safety," Mr. Sau added.

The situation of households living close to the foot of the dike has existed for 40 years. In order to comply with the 2006 Law on Dikes, to clear the dike corridor to serve flood prevention and drainage works, there must be adequate compensation, resettlement areas, housing... which requires a lot of funding. Therefore, it is necessary to have the attention of competent authorities in handling violations "left over from historical factors" and protecting the dike in Do Luong./.