Vietnam advances $982 billion‑dong coastal protection project near Hoi An

Vietnam is rapidly advancing a coastal‑erosion control project worth 982 billion dong (about $43 million) to protect a 3.5‑km stretch of Cửa Đại beach near Hoi An, Da Nang. The works involve building seven submerged breakwater dykes of roughly 2.1 km in total length and six perpendicular sand‑trap structures of about 1.5 km, designed to trap sand and rebuild the shoreline.

The construction mobilises five contractor teams, more than 250 000 m³ of stone, hundreds of workers and a specialised crew of 70 professional divers. Divers wear scuba gear with 10 kg of lead weight and operate six hours a day in turbid water, manually positioning the stone blocks that form the underwater “wall”. The project, financed through loans and counterpart funding from the French Development Agency (AFD), is slated for completion by 31 August 2026, aiming to halt the ongoing loss of beach width and protect the livelihoods of tens of thousands of coastal residents.