Sea dikes northern part of Vietnam

The coastal areas of Vietnam are repeatedly hit by devastating storms and typhoons. Protective sea dikes are overtopped or breached frequently, with the resulting flooding causing damage to agriculture land, loss of life and crops, and destruction of infrastructure. In the coastal area of the five northern provinces of the Red River Delta, 361 kilometres dikes will be upgraded, assisted by the World Food Program, project number 5325. This project is the follow-up of the WFP project number 4617, which was focused on 7 provinces along the Central Coast. As a result of the strong similarity in physical nature between the Netherlands and Viet Nam on water related issues, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has requested to the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management of the Netherlands for technical assistance on flood control issues. As a first step the Dutch Ministry has sent in November 1995 two representatives, mr. Anne van Urk and mr. Ale van der Hoek, to discuss many flood control and water management issues in Viet Nam, on which cooperation can take place. One of the issues with the highest priority was to get a second opinion on the sea dike designs as to be used in the WFP program. So as a second step in the program a mission visited Vietnam, from 26 March to 12 April 1996, in order to evaluate the existing designs and execution options for the five coastal provinces of the Red River Delta