Bank Erosion in Mekong Delta and along Red River in Vietnam : Report Mission 23 November - 6 December 2003

In 2002 the Department of Dike Management and Flood Control (DDMFC) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) requested the Rijkswaterstaat (Dutch Public Works Dpt.) to review the problem of bank erosion in Vietnam and to assist in the preparation of a plan for tackling this problem. The mission took place in the period 23 November-6 December 2003. The goal of the mission was to get a more or less representative picture of these bank erosion problems and to give recommendations on how in the future to tackle problems, and it was certainly not intended to prepare a professional consultancy report on the bank erosion problems in Vietnam. The mission spent one week in the Mekong Delta and 4 days in the Red River area. Due to the limited time it was not possible to make a full inventory of problems on bank erosion in Vietnam. Therefore, to get a general (and hopely representative) picture of the problem it was decided to visit a number of representative sites in the upper part of Mekong Delta (non-tidal area) and in the lower part of the Red River area. Special attention and time was allocated for discussion with persons working for a long time in the visited areas (praciticians) or doing studies for these areas (researchers). The guides from Dike Deparment (DDMFC) provided useful information on legal, organizational and planning aspects.