VietNamNet Bridge – While other governments in the world reconsider hydropower plant development strategies and the world’s big organizations do not fund hydropower projects any more, Vietnam still cherishes a keen desire to develop hydropower.

Prof Dr Pham Hong Giang, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture noted that Vietnam has been too impatient to develop hydropower projects.

A report by the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that Vietnam has had 1114 hydropower projects nationwide, including 217 projects now under the construction and 309 other projects being planned.

“Vietnam should have been taken more cautious steps in developing hydropower projects,” he said at an interview given to Nong thon ngay nay.

Giang said that competent agencies the hydropower project development program showed a lot of problems. The program has been designed in a way without the regard to the exploitation of the water resources in a harmony. The programmers underestimated the impacts of the hydropower plants on the stream currents and the living environment of people in the downstream area.

As a result, unlike other hydropower plants in the world, Vietnam’s hydropower plants are neither clean nor cheap as expected.

While competent agencies show their determination to build more hydropower plants, Vietnamese feel insecure about the projects, especially after trouble were found at the Song Tranh Hydropower plant and the break of the Dak Rong 3 hydropower plant’s dam.

Local residents in the Song Tranh hydropower plant areas have been on a knife edge because of the continual earthquakes which may kill them anytime. The situation is so serious that it became the hot topic for discussion at the latest National Assembly’s session.

Under the current regulations, investors have to take responsibility for the safety of the dam - a big loophole of the laws which makes it unable for state management agencies to control the quality of hydropower plants.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment has found out from its survey that besides the Electricity of Vietnam, other hydropower plant investors did not register the operation of specialized hydrometeorology works, and did not have plans to exploit and develop the water natural resources.

Under the decentralization mechanism, local authorities are authorized to control the quality of small and medium hydropower plants. However, local authorities do not have the engineers who have deep knowledge about hydropower.

The agriculture department, for example, has very few water resource engineers to undertake the supervision over the project implementation, and so does the industry and trade department. As a result, the heads of local authorities simply approve the projects and then let the projects’ quality open.

Nguyen Huu Thien, an independent specialist, who once was the member of the team making research on the strategic environment assessment of the hydropower plant dams on the main stream of Me Kong, said on Thanh Nien that scientists in the world have changed their view about hydropower plants, finding out that this is not a source of clean energy as previously thought.

Meanwhile, it is also not as cheap as thought, and it is only cheap to investors, because investors only have to pay for the construction, site clearance, while they don’t have to compensate for the social and environmental influences.

Dr Le Anh Tuan from the Can Tho University said the US has destroyed four dams on Klamath River, while Brazil and Myanmar have stopped the construction of the dams which may harm the environment and the forests. WB, IMF and ADB do not fund any more hydropower projects. Meanwhile, Vietnam seems to be too eager for hydropower projects.

Thien Nhien