Quynh Luu sea dike construction is incomplete: People are worried

(Baonghean) -In recent years, the State has invested hundreds of billions of VND in Quynh Luu to build coastal dykes. However, some unfinished sea dykes are a concern for coastal residents. Storms, floods, and high tides have caused some unfinished dykes to be severely eroded, causing blockages in "tide drainage and flood control", seriously affecting people's lives...

Weak dike sections in Quynh Nghia - Quynh Luu were temporarily reinforced with sandbags by local people.

Mr. Ho Dinh Ve in Hamlet 3, Quynh Nghia Commune (Quynh Luu) said: “The Quynh Nghia sea dike section passing through my hamlet has only had its foundation completed, the coastal side has not been stone-lined yet. To cope with the recent storms, we had to pack sandbags to reinforce the dike to minimize landslides. During storms, villagers had to evacuate because the sea dike could not ensure safety. We hope the State will continue to invest in completing the sea dike so that people can live in peace.”

According to the people's reflection, this section of the sea dike has been built with a sluice gate with the function of "draining the tide and draining the floodwaters", but the sluice gate does not have a system of opening and closing gates. When the tide rises, seawater overflows, causing salinity in dozens of hectares of Hoi Ngam rice fields. Due to salinity, for the past few years, people have not been able to cultivate rice but only grow sweet potatoes, seriously affecting the lives of people here.

Currently, only some sections of the Quynh Nghia sea dike have been poured with concrete, the rest is earthen ground, especially the dike system has not been stone-enclosed along the coast, many sections have been eroded by sea waves, eating deep into the roadbed. The points with strong erosion into the drainage network have been temporarily sand-bagged by the people. Mr. Bui Xuan Ky, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Nghia commune, is worried: "The 4.2 km long Quynh Nghia dike has been under construction since 2009 but has only reached over 70% of the volume. The commune has proposed to the investor to construct important items such as stone-enclosed seaward, pouring concrete roadbed and the drainage system needs to add doors to prevent salt. In recent years, Quynh Nghia has planned a coastal tourism area, however, because the dike is not yet secure, many investors have not dared to invest in building restaurants and hotels".

It is known that the Quynh Nghia breakwater is part of the investment content of the project "Quynh Luu beach sea dyke" with a total investment of 158,730 million VND (the investor is the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development). Up to now, 84,970 million VND has been allocated from the central budget according to the sea dyke consolidation and upgrading program (reaching 53.5% of the total investment). Due to the lack of investment capital for the project, many sections of the dyke have not been solidly built, including the breakwater in Quynh Nghia commune.

Quynh Thuan sea dyke is part of the Quynh Long, Quynh Thuan, Son Hai, Quynh Tho sea dyke project with a total investment of 94,574 million VND (investor: Quynh Luu District People's Committee). Up to now, over 75,000 million VND has been allocated from the central budget (reaching 80% of the total investment). The items have been basically completed, but there are still some unfinished items. In Quynh Thuan commune, there are currently 3 culverts that have not been installed with opening and closing gates. Ms. Nguyen Thi Vien in Thanh Cong hamlet, Quynh Thuan commune is worried: "There are no culvert gates, so during the rainy season, when the tide rises, water overflows into people's houses, causing flooding. The culvert gates are silted up, so it is difficult for water to drain out." Ms. Tran Thi Van in Trong Hoa hamlet, Quynh Long suggested: "The contractor needs to speed up the progress of pouring concrete on the road surface for people to circulate because the whole hamlet only has this one road."

Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: "In the current conditions, the capital has only been allocated over 53% but the construction units have completed nearly 85% of the project volume. In the near future, based on the central budget supporting Nghe An to implement the sea dike consolidation and upgrading program, the Department of Planning and Investment will coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to review the list of projects under the program and arrange them in order of priority to advise the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Ministry of Planning and Investment to allocate capital to implement the project in 2014. The investor will continue to encourage the construction units to complete the urgent and critical sections.

Regarding the Quynh Thuan sea dike system, Mr. Le Van Cuong - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district committed to completing the concrete pouring of the roadbed over 200 meters in Trong Hoa hamlet, Quynh Long commune by the end of December 2013 and urged the construction unit to install a sluice gate system on the route to promote the effectiveness of the project.

In the context of limited capital, the investor of the Quynh Luu coastal dike project needs to select key projects to do first. Specifically, it is necessary to focus on constructing coastal dike revetments. In fact, during the storms of 2013, many sections of the dike that had only been built as foundations and had not been revetmented were destroyed by sea waves, causing further damage to the project and threatening to break the dike.

Article and photos: Van Truong