PORTS & HARBOURS

Dutch consortium for Vietnam’s Delta Plan

15 years ago

The Dutch government’s NL Agency has awarded a contract for the provision of consultancy services for the Mekong Delta Plan in Vietnam to a consortium headed by consultancy and engineering firm DHV.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is increasingly being confronted with the effects of climate change.

Other members of the consortium include Royal Haskoning, Wageningen University & Research Centre, Deltares, RebelGroup and UNESCO-IHE. DHV is involved in several projects in Vietnam, including the widening and deepening of 250 km of the Mekong River, including the construction and renovation of 18 bridges and the construction of a new lock.

With its 17 million inhabitants, the Mekong Delta is one of the world’s most densely populated regions. It is also one of Vietnam’s most productive agricultural areas. However, the Mekong Delta is increasingly being confronted with the effects of climate change.

The sustainable development and conservation of the Mekong Delta requires an integral approach that addresses issues as serious flooding, salinization of agricultural land, temporary drought, insufficient irrigation capacity and the threat to valuable ecosystems. Intensive agriculture, urban development and industrialization are also competing for the available space.

The Viet Nam – Netherlands Strategic Partnership Arrangement on climate adaptation and water management provides for cooperation between the Netherlands and Vietnam in developing the Mekong Delta Plan.

Prof. Cees Veerman and other former members of the Dutch Delta Committee 2008 are directly advising Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and the Vietnamese project organization established to develop the Mekong Delta Plan.

The purpose of the Delta Plan is to create a strategic long-term vision (2100) for the Mekong Delta, to set out a long-term Delta Program with a range of short-term measures (2015-2025) and to strengthen water governance for the delta. The DHV consortium will advise on the water system, land usage, scenario development and water governance. The consortium will also advise on the process of developing a Delta Plan.

The project is part of The Netherlands Global Water Program, a Dutch government umbrella program for making global water efforts from the Netherlands, dedicated to cooperation of the Dutch water industry in delta countries like Vietnam. The proposal submitted by the DHV consortium was evaluated in terms of the quality of the plan of action, the proposed team and the price. The project will be financed by the Partners for Water program being carried out by NL Agency. It will last 18 months and the contract is worth €750,000.