Before the rivers streaming south of the country looked placid and devoid of life. Normally locals ply their trade in their usual get-up – the common Vietnamese dress with matching conical hat or paddy hat. Their daily routine is repeated in as much as they could remember under the communist style democracy.
But after decades of underdevelopment Vietnam pole-vaulted into the 21st century and the country’s rivers, the primary access to the outside world was finally opened. The rivers’ “gate of development” was practically wide open that merchant shipping started to grow fast and brought in progress to the Vietnamese people.
Unfortunately, Vietnam which is trying to muster the threshold of maturity - economically and politically speaking - misread or did not pay attention to the other side of progress and development. The government which is too busy counting exports is seemingly unaware of their responsibility to protect their rivers from commercial destruction.
In our repeated sorties to deliver LPG cargo to Ho Chi Minh and neighboring cities like Can Tho, Dong Nai and other city, I came to witness the wanton destruction of the rivers we pass-by. Dredging equipments and boat-haulers continuously do their thing extracting sands near river banks and right on the middle of the river where big foreign ships travels.
Locals living near the river channels complain of soil erosion and they are afraid of losing their lands once the river completely gobbles-up the affected areas. According to a worker of an LPG depot, sands extracted were being exported to Singapore for construction purposes.
