VietNamNet Bridge – Da Nang City People’s Committee believes that the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) has seriously violated the Water Natural Resource Law and ignored the benefits of nearly 1.7 million of people in the lowlands.

According to Huynh Van Thang, Deputy Director of the Da Nang City Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, MONRE is drafting the regulations stipulating the operation of the A Vuong, Dak Mi 4 and Song Tranh 2 water reservoirs, planning unreasonable conditions which would seriously affect the lives of 1.7 million of people on the lower course of the rivers.

Thang said the draft sets the required water level on Vu Gia River in Ai Nghia, Dai Loc district of Quang Nam province at 2.53 meters, and once this is legalized, the benefits of the people in Da Nang City will be seriously harmed.

“Everyone knows that the 2.53 meter level is seen in the driest months of years. Setting the required water level at 2.53 meter in height means keeping the lower course of the Vu Gia River in the state of exhaustion,” Thang said.

The draft regulation says that once the lower course lacks water seriously, the Dak Mi hydropower reservoir has to give the water back to Vu Gia River at 12.5 cubic meters per second, which Thang believes would make the lowland depleted.

The Dak Mi 4 hydropower plant takes away 1,200 million cubic meters of water every year in the dry season. Meanwhile, A Vuong hydropower plant provides 266 cubic meters of water and Song Bung 4 gives 234 million cubic meters. This means that once the regulation on the operation of the reservoirs is applied, the lowland of the Vu Gia River would lose 700 million cubic meters of water.

“Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai once requested the Dak Mi 4 hydropower plant to discharge water to Vu Gia river at 25 cubic meters per second (Dak Mi 4 takes Vu Gia’s water to generate power, but gives water back to Thu Bon river). But the MONRE does not follow the instructions,” Thang said.

“The draft regulation compilers try to ensure the highest possible benefits for the hydropower projects, while they ignore the 1.7 million people in the lowland who will face the water shortage,” he continued.

Thang went on to say that Da Nang City has been suffering over the last many years from the drought and water shortage, because the Dak Mi 4 changes the river’s stream. The water shortage in the city has become alarming, not only in the dry season, causing immeasurable consequences to the local economy, crops and social life.

“If the benefit of the 1.7 million people in the river lower course is neglected, we will ask the city authorities to take legal proceedings against Dak Mi 4 hydropower and MONRE,” Thang said.

The viewpoint has been supported by the Da Nang City’s People’s Committee, which believes that the draft regulation violates the provisions of the Water Natural Resource Law.

The draft regulation says the Quang Nam provincial authorities have the right to instruct the operation of the hydropower plants in floods, but they don’t have that right in the droughts.

PL TPHCM