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Securing the Mekong Delta water supply

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

The current severe drought and rise in sea level has caused saline intrusion in the Sai Gon and Dong Nai rivers. The two rivers supply raw water to more than 10 million residents and to businesses.

The high saline rate along with household and industrial pollutants in the river water has threatened the city’s water supply.

Water treatment plants in HCM City have had to shut down numerous times because raw water taken from the Sai Gon and Dong Nai was below standard.

The salinity rate in the rivers is at the highest level of the last five years, affecting operations of some of the pumping stations that supply water to the city.

Water pollution has become more serious in the Dong Nai River, which supplies 4,000 cu.m water per person in HCM City each year.

Vietnam’s lowlands to go under with climate change, bank report says

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

When it comes to climate change, Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City is one of the world’s 10 most vulnerable cities.

As a result, around 70 per cent of its urban area may experience severe flooding in coming decades, according to a recent Asian Development Bank report.

The bank’s assessment is based on the United Nations’ projections of a 26-centimetre sea level rise by 2050.

Local authorities are taking the threat seriously, recently announcing flood-prevention measures of almost $US7 billion ($9 billion) over the next five years.

But the southern economic powerhouse, formerly Saigon and one of the fastest growing and most polluted cities in the country, is not the only Vietnamese centre at risk.

About 60 per cent of the country’s urban areas are a mere 1.5 metres above sea level and extreme climate events are increasing and widespread.

Vietnam needs clearer windpower laws: experts

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

These were among the petitions related to administrative procedures that were raised at a validation workshop held in HCM City last week.

The aim of the workshop was to create more opportunities for further wind power.

The Validation Workshop on “Wind Power Investment Guidelines” was co-hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Inter-nationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Vietnam and the General Directorate of Energy (GDE) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) in Vietnam.

Aurelien Agut, a GIZ consultant, said that interest to invest in small wind turbines was strong, but there were no clear regulations on the import of small turbines as well as on relevant procedures.

Thailand’s transparency deficit: Haste makes waste on mega-projects

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

One of the country’s top bankers is stressing the need for faster action to transform Thailand into a hub for CLMV countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam).

Kevin Tan, CEO of HSBC Thailand, was speaking during an interview on Vietnam’s increasing attractiveness to foreign investors. Vietnam’s gross domestic product grew a whopping 797 per cent between 1995 and 2014, from US$20.74 billion to $186.2 billion. Thailand’s GDP growth was sluggish in comparison, rising from $169.28 billion to $404.8 billion over the same period.

And with big names like Intel, Apple and Samsung now showing interest in Vietnam, it seems the times are against Thailand.

Drowning in generosity

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

Again?” Chai Tamuen, 42, thought when he saw Mekong water rising at the riverbank of Chiang Khan district in Loei eight days ago.

Overnight, water had engulfed the sandy shore of Kaeng Khut Khu, a tourist spot popular for swimming and recreation, leaving stalls stranded on an “island” now surrounded by water.

As a vendor, Mr Chai was forced to leave his kiosk four days later when water submerged half of the island.

“This is not the first time that the bank has been flooded in dry season. It’s happened like this for the last five years,” he said.

“We can’t predict water. Our income has not been stable since Chinese dams have taken control over the water upstream.”

China announced on March 14 it would discharge a massive quantity of water from one of its dams, claiming it would help communities in the Mekong region facing severe drought.

China Focus: Lancang-Mekong cooperation enriches countries along the river

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

A border railway station which has been in existence for more than 100 years in southwest China’s Yunnan Province got a new lease on life last year after having been left desolate for a decade.

The cargo train via Shanyao Station on the China-Vietnam border hit the buffers in 2013 and was suspended for a while. The service has since resumed and is now busier than ever.

A railway linking Kunming in Yunnan province and the border with Vietnam opened in December 2014 and the following year 366,400 tonnes of cargo — iron ore, sulfur, fertilizer and so on — flowed from China into Vietnam via Shanyao, over 100 times more than the year before. Already this year, 89,700 tonnes of goods have gone the same way.

Laos releases dam water to ease drought in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

By Nantiya Tangwisutijit

Laos has started releasing water from its dams to the Mekong River to help Vietnam’s southern region cope with severe drought and saltwater intrusion, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ministry on Friday quoted Lao Minister of Energy and Mines Khammany Inthirath as saying that Laos had discharged around 1,136 cubic meters of water per second to the lower Mekong River basin on Wednesday. The country planned to keep doing so until the end of May.