Developing river economy in Mekong Delta should be focused: Experts

On August 1, the Academy of Politics Region IV in collaboration with Can Tho University and the Communist Review's Standing Agency in the South held a scientific conference ‘River economy in the Mekong Delta on theory and practice’ with the attendance of a large number of scientists, experts, leaders of commissions for Information and Education and schools of politics in provinces and cities to attend.

According to experts, the Mekong Delta has a dense network of rivers and canals, with about 26,550 km of natural rivers including over 5,000 km of rivers and canals that allow watercraft of over 100 tons to travel easily. Most of the main rivers, along with their tributaries and canal systems, have created a continuous network flowing through concentrated industrial zones and residential areas...

At the same time, many river ports directly access roads. Many river routes have access to important seaports, creating exchange points between modes of transport. Hence, with a dense network of rivers and canals, the Mekong Delta has great advantages in river economic development.

However, the river economy of this region has not been exploited effectively for many years. Many large rivers and canals are still only unloaded flows with little profit, not commensurate with the resources favored by nature. Therefore, removing bottlenecks, and clearing and opening the way for the development of the river economy in the Mekong Delta is an urgent issue.

According to Dr. Tran Van Hieu from Can Tho University, localities and responsible agencies need to find ways to develop water transport, because river transport is also very important but has not been exploited and invested like investment in roads for a long time. In the upcoming time, to better exploitation of river transport in the Mekong Delta, governments need to upgrade ports, invest in navigation equipment, strengthen dredging of channels, develop logistics, and build international seaports.

Last but not least, there should be radical and effective solutions for sustainable development of river tourism as well as a mechanism to encourage investors to spend money on river and riverside tourism. Moreover, administrations should manage well the exploitation of sand resources in the riverbed because sand is a fairly large resource for rivers in the Mekong Delta. On the other hand, it is necessary to well manage aquaculture on the river, both to protect the water source and to serve economic development as well.

At the seminar, scientists and experts also proposed many solutions to exploit the advantages and develop the river economy in the coming time, in order to contribute to the sustainable development of the Mekong Delta region.

As per their suggestions, the government should properly evaluate the role of the river economy for the development of an appropriate route for exploitation and economic development of the river.

Furthermore, a mechanism to manage the river system of the Mekong Delta in accordance with the new situation should be formulated in addition to strengthening linkages between localities in the region in exploiting the advantages of rivers and canal systems. Finally, it is necessary to focus on international cooperation in river economic development in the Mekong Delta.