Posted on September 28, 2026
By Nguyễn Hùng
On the morning of September 27, after many days of pumps operating at full capacity, water in the canal system seriously polluted in Monbay urban area, Ha Long ward, Quang Ninh city has basically dried up.
Black mud is thick and smelly, dead fish cover many sections of canals and ditches. The group of workers blocked each section to allow excavators to dredge mud according to the plan of dredging this section and then moving to another section because water treatment is not simple.
According to the contract between the construction unit and Ha Long Ward People’s Committee, the construction unit must dredge about 0.85m deep.
According to an excavator driver here, the layer of foul-smelling mud is thick, quite thick, looking like coal from afar but mainly soil and sand. This shows how severe the pollution is.
When the amount of dredged mud is large enough, trucks will come to transport it to the waste disposal area to dry it before proceeding with the next treatment steps.
According to a representative of the construction unit, if it does not rain, the dredging of the entire canal system in the urban area will be completed in about 2 weeks.
Along with that, according to the request of Ha Long Ward People’s Committee, the construction unit will dismantle the partitions between the canal system and Ha Long Bay and the Co Tien lake area next to it.
At that time, the level of pollution will decrease significantly but will not last long.
According to Mr. Luu Manh Tuan – Chairman of Ha Long Ward People’s Committee – mud dredging is also only a temporary solution because the source of pollution has not been treated.
Currently, at the official sewers of the urban area, polluted water is still flowing into the canal system, and especially recently, households have arbitrarily built additional wastewater drainage pipes to discharge directly into the canals.
Mr. Tuan said that he has mobilized people to dismantle the wastewater pipes that were arbitrarily built; otherwise, the government will demolish and block them.
As Lao Dong Newspaper reflected, the system of canals and regulating lakes in Monbay urban area, Ha Long ward, Quang Ninh province is heavily polluted. At times, fish die en masse, the water surface is black and smells strongly, causing adjacent villas and houses to always close their doors.
What is worrying is that all wastewater from here is discharged directly into Ha Long Bay, causing sewers right on the bay bank to always be in a stench.
Moreover, the polluted area is located right next to Quang Ninh Museum, Dolphin Palace – iconic destinations of the province’s tourism, causing negative impacts on the local tourism environment image.
Monbay urban area is 17.89ha wide, located in a prime location in old Hong Hai ward (now Ha Long ward), in front of Ha Long Bay, with a total investment of about 5,000 billion VND, completed in 2018. This urban area includes 311 adjacent apartments, 77 commercial townhouses, 24 detached villas and 30 twin villas.
