Although there are 15 rivers and canals with a total length of about 1,159.6km, in reality, the inland waterway transport system in Nghe An mainly serves the exploitation of sand and gravel, along with a number of ferry piers scattered in the districts. Passengers crossing the river on ferry piers are subjective and do not wear life jackets; ferry piers carrying passengers operate without a license; sand and gravel are exploited indiscriminately, causing riverbank erosion and affecting the flow... this is causing chaos in the inland waterway system.
Present at Cung ferry terminal on Lam River connecting Do Luong and Thanh Chuong districts, we noticed that this ferry terminal has a lot of passengers crossing the river every day. Because the distance between Dung Bridge (Thanh Chuong town) and Do Luong Bridge (Do Luong town) is too far, about 20km, many people from Phong Thinh, Thanh Hoa, Thanh Duc communes... of Thanh Chuong district when they need to go to the left bank of Lam River often choose to cross the ferry to save time and distance.
Currently, this ferry terminal is jointly managed by both Trung Son commune (Do Luong) and Cat Van commune (Thanh Chuong). Of which, the ferry terminal on the Trung Son side is managed by 4 people, the ferry terminal on the Cat Van side is managed by 3 people. These terminals have their own contracts with the local government, paying 60-80 million VND each year. Mr. Nguyen Van Long, residing in Hamlet 3, Trung Son commune, who has been serving the ferry here for 35 years, said: the people who participate in driving the ferry here are all granted operating certificates, and specialized agencies also regularly check and register the vehicles.
According to our observations, the ferries operating here are all equipped with life jackets, but when crossing the river, neither the passengers nor the boatmen wear them. When asked, both the boat owners and passengers laughed and said that they were going a short distance and because of the hot weather, they did not wear them.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung, residing in Do Luong town, said that because she had to go back to her hometown in Thanh Duc commune, if she had to go around Do Luong bridge or down Dung bridge, the distance would be very far, so Ms. Nhung chose to go by boat to save more than 15km.
In Thanh Chuong, there is also Nguoc ferry located at the foot of Nguoc mountain, connecting Thanh Ngoc commune with Thanh Chi commune, this ferry is located between Dung bridge and Ro bridge; Phuong ferry connects Thanh Yen and Thanh Giang communes, located between Ro bridge and Nam Dan bridge. Currently, due to the large distance between the bridges, people who want to cross the river often choose to cross by ferry rather than taking a detour. According to observations, these ferry stations are quite busy, however, the infrastructure at the ferry stations is very inadequate. The road down to the ferry station is very steep, not built with embankments, covered with steps but built temporarily, often eroded and slippery. Not to mention, the road down to the ferry stations is often very long, while there is no lighting system or railing, so it is very dangerous for people to travel, especially at night or in the rainy season.
Remember, on the night of November 19, 2020, at Phuong ferry, Mr. Tran Van Khoa (born in 1963), residing in Giang Nam village, Thanh Giang commune, Thanh Chuong district, while on duty on the ferry with his wife to transport passengers across Lam river, unfortunately fell into the river and went missing.
Leaving Thanh Chuong, we arrived at Van Ru ferry terminal, Khanh Son commune (Nam Dan). What caught our eyes was the image of a small, narrow waiting room at the ferry terminal, only temporarily built, not enough to protect passengers from the sun and rain if they need to wait at the ferry terminal, there are no steps for both sides. Through research, we learned that Van Ru ferry terminal currently has 2 vehicles, on average, each day transporting about 50-60 people across Lam River. Passengers are mainly people from Khanh Son and Xuan Lam communes. Observing, we saw that this ferry did not meet technical safety conditions such as there were no protective railings around the ferry, only 2 life buoys...
Meanwhile, although there were life jackets hanging on the boat, neither the boat owner nor the passengers wore them. The most dangerous times were when large sand-laden ships crossed the boat, the boat swayed and the risk of a water accident was very high.
A very subjective local resident shared: We in Xuan Lam commune often cross the river by ferry to work in the fields. Seeing that this section of the river is only a short walk away, we don't want to wear a life jacket.
Mr. Le Van Sy - Head of the Economic Infrastructure Department of Nam Dan district added: Nam Dan district has 3 ferry piers, currently 2 ferry piers Nam Thuong and Nam Trung have stopped operating, while Van Ru ferry piers in Khanh Son commune are still operating. The district regularly inspects the ferry piers and requires them to stop operations when the flood rises to ensure people's safety. According to the province's planning, at Van Ru ferry piers in Khanh Son commune, a saline prevention sluice combined with a bridge across Lam river will be built. If this bridge is built, Nam Dan district will eliminate all ferry piers.
Pha Lai Dam area, Mon Son commune is a tourist boating spot on Giang River in Con Cuong district. During the tourist season, this area has dozens of boats anchored and carrying tourists on Giang River for sightseeing. However, in reality, passenger transport activities on the river are being carried out spontaneously without permission from the authorities.
According to our research, currently in the Pha Lai dam area, there are 2 units operating in the exploitation of tourist transport by waterway. In which, VSC Service and Tourism Company Limited, was approved by the Provincial People's Committee to invest in the Pha Lai Eco-tourism Project since 2017 with a scale of 9.95 hectares including the land on the left and right banks of the Giang River, on both sides of the Pha Lai dam area. This unit has also been leased water surface by the Provincial People's Committee to exploit and use 0.33 hectares. Currently, the project investor has built a waiting house, access roads to the wharf but has not yet completed the procedures to agree on technical parameters and announce the operation of the inland waterway wharf according to regulations.
In addition, Pha Lai Tourism and Transport Cooperative is using 3 floating houses on the left bank of Pha Lai dam to exploit food services on the houses and exploit tourist transport along Giang river with 16 vehicles. Therefore, at this location, a spontaneous inland waterway port is formed.
On June 30, 2022, the Nghe An Department of Transport issued Document No. 2089/SGTVT-KHKCHT, affirming that in the Pha Lai dam area, there are 2 units operating in the field of passenger transport by waterway but have not been announced by competent authorities to operate inland waterway terminals according to regulations, especially the passenger transport activities by waterway of the Pha Lai Tourism and Transport Cooperative, which pose a high risk of traffic safety and traffic accidents on inland waterways. The Nghe An Department of Transport also requested the People's Committee of Con Cuong district to strengthen the inspection of the status of waterway vehicles serving passengers on the Giang River. For floating rafts operating food services in the Pha Lai dam area, Mon Son commune, they are not inland waterway vehicles according to regulations and are a type of temporary construction structure that has not been regulated by law on design, technical safety inspection, and registration of operation.
According to statistics, Nghe An province currently has 15 rivers and canals with a total length of about 1,159.6km. Of which, the national inland waterway route includes 4 routes with a total length of 217.1km; the local inland waterway route includes 4 routes with a total length of 45.5km. Natural rivers and canals are administratively managed by the People's Committees of districts and communes: including 08 routes, with a total length of about 897km. The rivers and canals flow into the sea through 6 estuaries (Cua Con, Cua Quen, Cua Thoi, Cua Van, Cua Lo and Cua Hoi).
Due to limited development conditions, the construction of a bridge system across large rivers has not been widely implemented, so currently, in Nghe An, many places people still have to cross the river on ferries. There are currently 8 passenger ferry terminals in operation, including: Van Ru wharf (Nam Dan); Phuong wharf, Nguoc wharf (Thanh Chuong); Cung wharf, Gia wharf (Thanh Chuong and Do Luong); Tao - Linh wharf (Anh Son); Con Phoi wharf, Thai Son wharf (Tan Ky); at the same time, on Hua Na hydroelectric lake, there are 2 licensed wharfs, Thong Thu wharf and Dong Van wharf, serving people traveling on the lake.
