Online conference on planning Red - Thai Binh river basin held

Vice Chairman Le Xuan Loi speaks at the Bac Ninh’s venue.

The Red - Thai Binh River basin spans three countries: Vietnam, China, and Laos. In Vietnam, the basin has a natural area of 88,680 km2 and a flow of 135 billion m3. It serves as the primary water source for over 1 million hectares of agricultural land, as well as the economic activities of 25 provinces and cities with 34 million people in two regions: the Northern Midlands and Mountains and the Red River Delta.

The Red - Thai Binh River Basin Irrigation Planning for the period 2022-2030, with a vision to 2050, is a specialized technical planning stipulated in the Planning Law, assigned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to the Department of Irrigation, with the Institute of Irrigation Planning serving as the consulting unit.  As a basin-level specialized technical planning, it will detail Natural Disaster Prevention and Irrigation Planning solutions in compliance with the applicable higher-level planning.

The plan was established with the goal of researching and proposing solutions for irrigation development to exploit, comprehensively use and sustainably develop water resources in the Red - Thai Binh river basin, taking into account the impact of climate change, upstream development, serving multiple purposes; proactively draining water for agriculture combined with urban and industrial drainage... in the irrigation system; preventing floods for the river basin; contributing to improving the water environment to meet the requirements of socio-economic development, contributing to ensuring water security of the basin until 2030 with a vision to 2050; serving as a basis for developing annual, 5-year and long-term irrigation development plans in the basin.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment continue to carefully review the overall planning to ensure that it serves multiple purposes, ensures water security, is consistent with reality, meets the basin's socioeconomic development requirements, and is feasible in deployment and implementation; carefully assess the mainstream project possibilities, compute the precise implications, and compare economic, technical, and environmental efficiency to select the most appropriate and effective solution.

Vice Chairman Le Xuan Loi urged relevant localities, departments, and branches to fully understand and embrace the Deputy Prime Minister's directive during the conference. The Department of Agriculture and Environment directed relevant units to establish a strategy to respond to climate change-induced water scarcity for production and people's lives during the dry season, as well as to immediately regulate flooding caused by heavy rains and floods.