The Ministry of Instruction on June 27 sent a dispatch to local people’s committees asking them to examine the quality and safety of small-scale hydropower plants and irrigation works nationwide.
Careless construction results in the dam breach at Ia Krel 2 Hydropower Plant in Gia Lai Province on June 12 (Photo: VNA) The Ministry’s decision has been made in accordance with the Government Office’s instruction after several incidents occurred at small hydropower projects, causing loss of human lives, property and farm crop in recent years.
Authorities of provinces and cities have been asked to report their inspection results to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development by July 31. These reports will be synthesized to submit the Government.
The Ministry of Construction also requires them to pay attention to ability of contractors as well as operations to verify designs, examine the work quality and manage dam safety.
According to the Ministry, constructive inspectors have uncovered that several investors and contractors were not qualified to conduct irrigation and hydropower projects and had been careless in management of the location survey, design and construction.
Authorized organs have also neglected to examine and supervise the implementation of hydropower projects, the ministry reported.
In related news, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has agreed with provinces to put an end to 338 hydropower projects and not to consider taking another 169 potential ones into the national electricity planning.
All the eliminated projects have low economic efficiency and might negatively impact the environment and society.
Vietnam now has 899 hydropower projects with total capacity of 24,880MW. Of these, 260 have come into operation and 211 others are about to be implemented.
The remaining 162 projects are congested with environmental and social issues or have had no investors so far.
Related articles:
Hydropower Dam breach due to careless constructionHydropower Plants threat to Central Highlands
Đăng ký: VietNam News