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Discharged water from China to partially address Vietnam's drought: official

Xinhua, March 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

The water from China's Jinghong dam, which is set to discharge from March 15 till April 10 to lower Mekong region, is expected to address partially the drought situation in the downstream, said a Vietnamese official here Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference held by Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Tran Duc Cuong, Deputy Director-General of Vietnam National Mekong Committee said around 27 to 54 percent of the water to be discharged will arrive to Vietnam's Mekong Delta region in the next two or three weeks, reported Vietnam's state-run radio Voice of Vietnam (VOV).

The water is expected to address partially the drought situation, while the handling of saline intrusion has to depend completely on the tide level, said Cuong.

As many countries in the Mekong region, including Laos and Thailand, are suffering severe drought, the Mekong River Commission has asked the countries to give highest priority to the use of discharged water from China for addressing drought and not to transfer water to other regions or store water at reservoirs, Cuong was quoted by VOV as saying.

The ongoing serious drought is damaging some 160,000 hectares of paddy rice in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, causing losses of some 5,000 billion Vietnamese dong (222.2 million U.S. dollars), and affecting about 290,000 hectares of fruit trees, Vietnamese media reported earlier on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, all 13 cities and provinces in Vietnam's Mekong Delta region are suffering saline intrusion.

Spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lu Kang said on Tuesday that China will release emergency water supply from Jinghong Hydropower Station from March 15 till April 10 to the lower reaches of the Mekong River to alleviate drought in Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

China and the five countries along the Mekong are friendly neighbors and assistance like this is natural, Lu said.

Mekong River originates in China and runs through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is known as Lancang in the Chinese stretch. Enditem