Implementing flood mitigation projects for agricultural and urban production

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Phung Duc Tien speaks at a press conference. Photo: Nhat Bac

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has developed and had the Prime Minister approve the Natural Disaster Prevention and Control Plan. This is an important legal basis for implementing solutions to prevent and combat flooding. Every year, before the rainy and stormy season, the Ministry sends documents to localities on preparations for flood prevention and control and solving environmental problems. After the storm, the Ministry also issues documents directing the resolution of environmental issues and agricultural production.

“Regarding planning, projects on irrigation works are built based on terrain, hydrometeorology, and flood conditions, summarized over many years,” said the Deputy Minister.

In the Northern mountainous region and North Central region, the main cause of floods is water gathering in the highlands, overflowing the banks of rivers, causing widespread flooding. Therefore, it is necessary to focus mainly on increasing drainage capacity and building dikes to protect important areas and urban areas. The reality in Thai Nguyen, Bac Giang and some other recently flooded provinces shows that this solution is very suitable for the conditions of the Northern mountainous region.

For the Red River Delta, flooding is mainly caused by rain. According to the Deputy Minister, the main solution is to build pumping stations to actively drain water into the river, while strengthening the dyke system to protect the area. Recently, Hanoi and some provinces have drastically strengthened this measure to solve flooding.

For the vast Mekong Delta, flooding is mainly caused by floods from upstream, mainly flowing across the Cambodian border. Therefore, the solution is to improve the irrigation system to control inland floods. These solutions have been approved by the Prime Minister.

Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien also shared about the project to prevent and combat subsidence, landslides, inundation, drought, and saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta region until 2035 and vision to 2050, which is being submitted by the Ministry to the Government. The project identifies multi-purpose projects to consolidate and upgrade infrastructure to prevent and combat floods, subsidence, landslides on river banks and coasts, inundation, drought, and saltwater intrusion.

Resources for project implementation have been specifically identified in medium-term public investment plans and strategies and regular target tasks managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and relevant ministries.

Along with the above projects, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is also implementing the Project on the overall development of the Bac Hung Hai irrigation system to serve multiple purposes and protect the environment sustainably, including solutions to help solve the flooding situation in areas in Bac Ninh, Hung Yen and Hai Phong.

At the press conference, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said that since the beginning of 2025, natural disasters have occurred frequently, fiercely, on a large scale, and with many unusual factors, exceeding historical levels. Among them, three very strong storms have hit the Central region, extreme heavy rains, and floods exceeding history on 10 rivers in the North and Central regions have caused very serious flooding in localities and urban areas in low-lying areas, including the capital Hanoi. Natural disasters since the beginning of the year have left 300 people missing and dead, causing damage of 69,000 billion VND.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/trien-khai-cac-de-an-giam-thieu-ngap-ung-cho-san-xuat-nong-nghiep-va-do-thi-722635.html