Struggling to handle landslides in Muong Xen town

Nearly 50 billion VND to fix landslides still not finished

For many years now, every time it rains, many households living along National Highway 7 in Block 4 (Muong Xen town, Ky Son district) have to pack up and flee to find shelter. “It’s bearable when it rains a little, but when it rains a little harder, rocks and soil come tumbling down. It threatens people’s lives and property. We live here in constant fear, with landslides on one side and Nam Mo River on the other,” said Mr. Phan Van Long (55 years old, Block 4, Muong Xen town).

It is worth mentioning that this area has just been invested nearly 50 billion VND to repair landslides. However, every time it rains, rocks and soil from the mountain still overflow the embankment, falling onto residential areas. According to the reporter's records, many sections of the embankment made of stone gabions were overflowed by rocks and soil after the latest rain. This mass of rocks and soil also fell onto a 2-storey house, causing stains. Next to it, local authorities had to put up signs warning of the danger of landslides.

Gabion embankment protects houses. Photo: Tien Hung

According to local people, the most serious landslide in this area was in 2018. At that time, cracks stretched hundreds of meters and then landslides caused hundreds of cubic meters of rock and soil to slide down and collapse many houses. After many landslides, many households living at the foot of the mountain had their houses collapsed, had to evacuate and became "homeless". By 2019, the Government approved the investment policy for the "Urgent project to handle landslide incidents in Block 4, Muong Xen town, Ky Son district".

The project investor is the People's Committee of Ky Son district. The goal is to urgently handle the landslide incident in Block 4, Muong Xen town that occurred during the floods in the past few years to ensure timely safety for households in areas at risk of landslides; ensure the safety of people and vehicles traveling on National Highway 7. The total investment of the project is 48 billion VND, of which the central budget supports 35 billion VND; the budget of Nghe An province is 12 billion VND and Ky Son district is 1 billion VND.

Rocks and soil overflowed the embankment, threatening people's houses. Photo: Tien Hung

The investor then constructed the basic positive slope to all the cracks, with a length of 130m along National Highway 7. The average height of the slope peak is about 90m compared to the road surface. At the same time, a retaining wall was built with gabions at the foot of the slope to prevent loose soil and rocks from rolling down. The length of the gabion section is about 46m, the average height is about 4m...

By the end of 2021, this project was completed, the district handed over the land to people to build houses and stabilize their lives. However, after that, every time it rained, the landslides continued to recur. Some households even had to sell their land cheaply to move elsewhere. “Every time the rainy season comes, we have to mobilize people to evacuate, it is very difficult. Even though there is a stone gabion embankment, it is still not effective, the water still flows down. The soil and rocks above have lost all cohesion, the water flowing down will also drag the soil and rocks with it. To continue to overcome this, we have proposed building a ditch system above to collect water, but it has not been approved yet,” said Mr. Nguyen Anh Doai - Secretary of the Party Committee of Muong Xen town.

The landslide area is located in Block 4, Muong Xen town. The leaders of the Project Management Board of Ky Son district said that the water plant's pipes were the main cause of the landslide. Photo: Tien Hung

Controversy over the cause of landslides

Regarding the landslide situation in Block 4 (Muong Xen town), Mr. Nguyen Van Long - Director of the Project Management Board of Ky Son district said that currently, the only way left is to let the landslides occur naturally. "There is still no solution to fix it. And even if there is, it will be very costly, so it must be left as it is," said Mr. Long.

According to Mr. Long, the main cause of the landslide in this area is the water plant's pipeline system. This plant is located on the mountain, with an outlet system that supplies domestic water to Muong Xen people running underground through this area. "This pipeline system has been used for many years so it is rusty, they run underground in the mountain and sometimes leak, break and seep into the ground causing mud. We have sent a document to Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company to replace the entire underground pipeline system with an open-air pipeline, but up to now this company has not done it," said Mr. Long.

The land area of ​​26 plots of land in the Muong Xen town expansion project, although auctioned off, has been abandoned by households due to landslides. Photo: Tien Hung

Meanwhile, Mr. Le Dinh Hoan - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company said that the pipeline system of Muong Xen Water Plant is not related to the landslide. "Regarding this issue, we have also inspected and worked with Ky Son district. The pipeline system of the water plant is not related. The cause, as far as I know, is that the district excavated land at the foot of the mountain to implement a project to divide and sell land, leading to the landslide," said Mr. Hoan.

The project that Mr. Hoan mentioned is the Muong Xen town expansion project that Ky Son district has been implementing since 2017. The project area is at the foot of the mountain, located next to the residential area that is currently experiencing landslides. Accordingly, Ky Son district has contracted with a business to excavate land at the foot of the mountain to divide and sell land. However, during the construction process, rocks and soil from the mountain poured down, forcing many households to evacuate. The more the business excavated below, the more rocks and soil fell from above, causing the construction to drag on for many years. At the same time, the residential area right next to it also suffered from landslides, forcing the implementation of anti-landslide projects costing 48 billion VND but still not completed. This led some residents to believe that the landslide occurred in the residential area because the business excavated land to implement the project of dividing and selling land right next door.

Despite spending 48 billion VND to fix landslides, people still have to flee every time it rains heavily. Photo: Tien Hung

It was not until early 2022 that the project to divide and sell land and expand Muong Xen town was completed. After spending about 23 billion VND on land excavation and site improvement, 26 plots of land were auctioned off for about 1.3 billion VND each. However, despite having deposited money to buy the land, the households were later forced to withdraw because the area continued to erode. According to the reporter's records, despite having a concrete embankment, the slope of this area still erodes after every rain. Rocks and soil from the mountain regularly fall down, causing the 26 plots of land to remain abandoned since then.

Tien Hung