Vietnam will need a total VND109.6 trillion to upgrade irrigation system and build new ones to ensure sufficient water for 11.4 million hectares of farmland from now to 2020, the Vietnam Economic Times cited the Irrigation System Development Strategy Draft as saying.
The total area includes 3.8 million hectares of paddy, 1.2 million hectares of maize and 650,000 hectares of aquaculture, the draft said.
The strategy also aimed to provide 100 per cent of fresh water to both urban and rural areas, with from 60 to 180 liters per day.
According to the Irrigation Project Institute, Vietnam’s total water resource seemed to be decreasing over the past years, from 843 billion cubic meters in 2000 to only 807 billion cubic meters in 2025, and to around 700 billion cubic meters in the coming years.
Meanwhile, water demand is estimated to rise to 107 billion cubic meters in 2010, and to 125 billion cubic meters in 2020, resulting in serious shortage of water for production and daily life.
Last year, droughts caused loss of VND5 trillion to Vietnam in 1998, VND2 trillion in 2002, and VND1.743 trillion in 2005.
Irrigational experts said Vietnam now has 75 big irrigation systems, 1,967 reservoirs, 10,000 pump stations, more than 5,000 water inlet sluices and around 23,000 kilometers of dykes, totaling VND120 trillion. But almost all of them have run at only 65 per cent of total capacity. (Vietnam Economic Times)
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