The Ministry of Industry and Trade responds to opinions and recommendations of voters in Nghe An province on planning hydropower projects.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade responded as follows:
(Baonghean) - Before the 5th session of the 13th National Assembly, the National Assembly Delegation compiled and forwarded the opinions of Nghe An province voters to the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the issue: "The current planning of hydropower projects is not suitable, greatly affecting the lives of people in the planning area such as loss of land, loss of forests, environmental damage... It is recommended that the Government and relevant ministries and branches seriously evaluate to make reasonable adjustments to hydropower planning".
The Ministry of Industry and Trade responded as follows:
To exploit hydropower potential reasonably, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in coordination with ministries and branches, has directed and coordinated with the People's Committees of relevant provinces to establish hydropower plans for investment and development; during the implementation process, it has directed and coordinated to review the development plans of hydropower projects to ensure economic development goes hand in hand with the protection of the natural and social environment.
In general, the planning and investment in the construction of hydropower projects have been carried out quite well, in compliance with the provisions of the law, achieving positive results. According to statistics, in 2012, hydropower plants contributed up to 48.26% of capacity and 43.9% of electricity to the national power system. Hydropower reservoirs with a total capacity of tens of billions of m3 have played an important role in proactively storing to supplement flow, supplying water in the dry season and reducing floods for daily life, production, environmental protection... for downstream areas. According to the assessment of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, hydropower reservoirs will account for about 86% of the total capacity of reservoirs in the country (56 billion m3 out of a total of 65 billion m3).
However, in the implementation process, many limitations have been revealed, the state management in management and supervision of implementation is not good. There are still shortcomings and difficulties in compensation and resettlement. The issue of land and environmental management... is not strict, giving rise to many complicated problems. The Government, ministries, branches and localities have had many instructions to handle and resolve these problems.
In Notice No. 17/TB-VPCP dated January 14, 2013 of the Government Office conveying the Prime Minister's opinion, the Prime Minister directed:
“Prioritizing hydropower development is not only in Vietnam, but also in most countries with development potential. However, recently, some hydropower projects have revealed shortcomings and inadequacies: Negative impacts on the environment, causing earthquakes that affect people, etc. In the coming time, we will continue to exploit hydropower, while at the same time needing to overcome the negative aspects, meeting the requirements:
- Must ensure safety, dam safety, safety of people's lives, this is the highest requirement, no matter how effective it is, if it does not meet this requirement, it cannot be done.
- When building hydropower plants, we must ensure the implementation of the policy of our Party and State that resettling people to new places of residence must have conditions so that people can gradually have a better life.
- Special attention must be paid to the environment, hydroelectric power plants must be built without causing major or negative impacts on the living environment.
- Must ensure the overall efficiency of hydropower projects in terms of economic, social and environmental efficiency.
- Must strictly comply with legal regulations in project establishment, appraisal, construction and operation of works".
Implementing the direction of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is currently reviewing the planning of hydropower projects nationwide and is working directly with localities to continue reviewing the details of hydropower planning, compensation and resettlement work and reforestation work. According to the program, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will report to the National Assembly at the 6th session of the 13th National Assembly.
In order to more closely manage the planning, investment, construction and operation of hydropower projects, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Circular No. 43/2012/TT-BCT dated December 27, 2012, regulating the management of planning, investment, construction and operation of hydropower projects and works. In particular, it stipulates the contents of evaluating the effectiveness and environmental and social impacts of projects in the planning and investment stages; management of investment, construction and operation of hydropower projects; except for multi-purpose hydropower projects, other projects proposed for planning must ensure that they do not occupy more than 10 hectares of land of any type or do not relocate more than 1 household with 1MW of installed capacity.
The National Assembly Delegation of Nghe An province respectfully forwards the response of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to voters, organizations and agencies for information.
Delegation of National Assembly Deputies of Nghe An province
