VietNamNet Bridge – Officials of Bac Tra My district, Quang Nam Province, confirmed that the district would not welcome earthquake inspection teams because experts could not help solve quakes in the district.

Urgent meeting held after quake at hydropower plant




On November 20, the Quang Nam People's Committee held a meeting to discuss the resettlement issues related to hydropower projects in the province.

Leaders of mountainous districts were dismayed with the lack of productive land for the people whose land was revoked for hydropower projects.

Meanwhile, Bac Tra My district’s officials said that from now on, the district government would not receive delegations to the district to inspect quakes anymore, because they could not solve the problem!

Currently, most of the households whose land was revoked for hydropower projects in Quang Nam lack land for production. Some families in resettlement areas in the districts of Dong Giang and Bac Tra My have removed elsewhere or into the forest. Many facilities in the resettlement areas are deteriorating quickly. The high risk of landslides has also affected people's lives.

At the resettlement area of the Song Tranh 2 Hydropower Plant in Bac Tra My, resettlement houses are degraded while water supply systems do not work. Many people have abandoned their houses.

The hydropower projects in Quang Nam have taken out more than 5,700 hectares of land, including 2,000 hectares of agricultural land, affecting 3,519 households. But most of the resettlement plans do not mention land for production. Land for production is now mostly agricultural land but the area is equivalent to 1/4 of the previous area.

In Bac Tra My district, the home to Song Tranh 2 hydropower plant, according to Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, the district’s deputy chairman, 38 households have left the resettlement area to the forest because of quakes and lack of productive land. Especially, earthquakes make people very confused.

Tuan said that each time earthquakes occur, many groups of experts and officials visited Bac Tra My district but they could not help solve the issue while the quakes are getting stronger. From now on, the district will not spend time to welcome earthquake inspection delegations any more. That time will be used to handle the districts’ tasks.

"Today, our district confirms that if the provincial departments come here to survey and examine the situation of the local people, we will receive them but we will not welcome inspection teams of central agencies anymore,” Tuan said.

District officials said that it is needed to have more policies to support the people who lost their land to hydropower projects to have land for production. They also proposed that the government should define the benefit-sharing mechanism in the profitable exploitation of hydropower plants for local governments, to have funds for repairing degraded works.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Quang, Vice Chairman of Quang Nam province, said the province will instruct to consider land allocation to, people in the resettlement areas and design a plan on wet rice development associated with irrigation.

On November 20, the People's Committee of Quang Nam sent a dispatch requesting the Electricity of v Group (EVN) to arrange VND2.5 billion to Bac Tra My district for repairing damaged works by earthquakes.

By November 6, 856 houses and eight public buildings in the district were damaged by the impact of the earthquakes.

Compiled by Na Son