Inland waterway transport activities in Nghe An have long been mainly the exploitation and transportation of sand and gravel on the river. Although these activities have been strictly managed and inspected, illegal exploitation still frequently occurs, causing landslides on both sides of the river.
According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Nghe An, by the end of 2021, the whole province had issued 61 licenses for sand and gravel exploitation with reserves of 21,165,000 m3, with an operating capacity of 1,140,361 m3/year. The licensing of sand and gravel mining and the opening of sand and gravel ports along localities where rivers flow through have contributed to increasing budget revenue. However, in reality, many subjects have taken advantage of the lack of strict management to illegally mine sand and gravel, greatly affecting the safety of inland waterway traffic and causing riverbank erosion.
Since the beginning of 2022, many cases of illegal sand mining have been arrested and handled by the authorities. On the morning of January 8, 2022, after discovering that there were 2 subjects using an iron-hulled ship to illegally mine sand on the Lam River from Hung Loi Commune to Hung Thanh Commune, Hung Nguyen District, the police of Hung Nguyen District arrested them. These subjects took advantage of the border area between Hung Nguyen District (Nghe An) and Duc Tho District (Ha Tinh), which is the border area between licensed and unlicensed areas, to illegally mine sand.
Not stopping there, at around 9:30 p.m. on March 22, 2022, the Waterway Police Team, Nghe An Traffic Police Department discovered on Lam River, passing through Hung Loi Commune (Hung Nguyen), an iron-hulled ship with registration number NA-2475 operated by Nguyen Van Tu (residing in Hung Loi Commune, Hung Nguyen District) illegally mining sand, so they organized an inspection and caught him red-handed.
Also on the night of March 22, at the above location, the authorities continued to discover and arrest the iron-hulled ship numbered NA-2628 operated by Nguyen Dinh Duy (residing in Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district) who was illegally mining sand. At the scene, the police seized 37m3illegal sand mining
Illegal sand mining not only causes loss of resources, but also changes the flow and causes riverbank erosion. In Long Xa commune (Hung Nguyen), right at the foot of Yen Xuan bridge, there has been a serious riverbank erosion for a long time, causing many hectares of people's productive land to be washed away into the river.
Riverbank erosion also occurs in many other localities such as Thanh Linh commune (Thanh Chuong), Tam Son and Cam Son communes (Anh Son), Nghia Dung (Tan Ky)... Even many embankments along the banks of large rivers, although built to prevent riverbank erosion, eventually collapsed, such as the embankment section in Thanh Linh commune (Thanh Chuong), Nhan Khanh embankment (Hung Nguyen), or the river embankment section through Trung Phuc Cuong commune (Nam Dan), now only has a concrete frame left, the base and roof have almost collapsed.
It is worth mentioning that when licensing sand mines, many mines cover the coastal land, so when mining vehicles reach close to the shore to suck, it causes landslides. Not to mention that many illegal sand suckers often ignore the consequences, sucking sand anywhere, as long as they can quickly fill their boats to escape. Then the consequences of changing the flow and eroding the riverbanks are borne by the localities.
Besides, there are still common cases of opening illegal wharves and yards, illegal sand mining, encroachment on inland waterway protection corridors, using explosives and electric shocks to illegally catch aquatic products, causing landslides, damaging dikes and embankments, etc.
In addition, the coordination between sectors and localities in protecting infrastructure and preventing encroachment on waterway traffic corridors has not received due attention, so the problem of unsafe inland waterway traffic still occurs. From the beginning of 2022 to now, the Waterway Traffic Police Team, Traffic Police Department, and the Nghe An Department of Transport Inspectorate have handled 101 administrative violations, including arresting 8 cases of illegal sand mining, seizing 8 iron-hulled ships, with a total fine of 305 million VND.
Nghe An currently has 5 estuaries: Lach Con, Lach Quen, Lach Thoi, Lach Van, Lach Lo, where large rivers flow into the sea. These are the exits for ships and boats to move, creating connections between inland waterway systems in the region. However, up to now, the estuaries are all experiencing sedimentation, which makes the movement of ships and boats very difficult, especially during the rainy and stormy season, when ships and boats will have difficulty entering and exiting to avoid storms.
In recent years, the sedimentation situation in Lach Van (Dien Chau) has been extremely serious, many boats when entering and exiting the estuary have often run aground, if serious, the boat capsizes, the propeller breaks, otherwise it takes time and people have to be hired to pull the boat out of the shallows. Currently, Dien Chau district has more than 1,500 boats, of which the number of boats from 200 - 800CV is increasing, the increasingly sedimentation of Lach Van makes the entry and exit of fishing boats difficult.
Mr. Hieu also said that there have been a number of dredging projects, but in reality, due to the rapid sedimentation of the channel, dredging only solves the immediate need to clear the flow, and cannot solve the problem of long-term sedimentation of the channel.
At Con creek (Hoang Mai town) and Thoi creek (Quynh Luu), the silting situation of the channel is no exception. In response to the urgent need to quickly dredge the channel to serve the boats entering and exiting, on November 6, 2019, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued Decision No. 4596-QD/UBND approving the project to overcome coastal erosion and silting the river mouth at Con creek in Quynh Lap commune and Quynh Phuong ward (Hoang Mai town). The project dredged more than 2km from the sea mouth into Con creek with a total investment of 20 billion VND.
According to the assessment, among the current estuaries and river mouths, only Cua Lo and Cua Hoi meet the requirements for active entry and exit of ships, while the remaining estuaries must depend on the tide. Therefore, it is necessary to have a solution to invest in expanding and dredging the estuaries regularly to make it easier for ships to enter and exit.
Faced with the sedimentation of the channels, recently Mr. Le Hong Vinh - Permanent Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee directed the Department of Transport to preside over and coordinate with Nghe An Maritime Port Authority and relevant agencies to advise the Provincial People's Committee on a document requesting the Ministry of Transport and Vietnam Maritime Administration to pay attention to adding funding for dredging the channel from Nghi Tan fishing wharf area to Cua Lo port channel to the annual dredging and maintenance plan of the Ministry of Transport to support large-capacity fishing vessels entering and exiting, overcoming the current situation of anchoring at Cua Lo port causing traffic insecurity.
The Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also requested Cua Lo town to conduct a survey and preliminary assessment of the waterway project from wharf No. 1 to Nghi Tan fishing wharf, coordinate with the Department of Transport and related departments and branches to advise the Provincial People's Committee to report to the Ministry of Transport. Survey to advise the Provincial People's Committee on a plan to collect waste during the dredging process in accordance with regulations.
(To be continued)