Installing antenna poles and BTS stations: Ensuring safety for people

(Baonghean) - The antenna pole and mobile information transmission and reception station (BTS) invested by Viettel Nghe An Branch - Military Telecommunications Group is currently being built on the second floor roof of Mr. Nguyen Quang Thang's house in Trung Do ward, Vinh city. However, this is being strongly opposed by 20 households in the area because they believe that the house structure is not safe to place BTS and electromagnetic waves affect health.

BTS pole erected at Mr. Thang's house (house number 104, Nguyen Thiep street, Trung Do ward, Vinh city).

People worry

At the end of 2016, Nghe An Newspaper received a petition from 20 households in Block 13, 14 (Trung Do Ward, Vinh City) stating that Mr. Nguyen Quang Thang's family (house number 104, Nguyen Thiep Street, Trung Do Ward, Vinh City) was constructing a satellite antenna tower on the roof of their house. The residents said that "The antenna tower erected on the roof of Mr. Thang's house is a danger to the villagers, because it was erected on a house whose first floor was built 30 years ago, built with bricks and potash without any pillars, the foundation has no steel, the house is makeshift. The house was built without a building permit from the superiors" and "Erecting a 25m high antenna tower on the roof like that has a very high risk of collapsing, not to mention when encountering storms".

In the petition, 20 households also complained that the residential area has “closely packed houses, dense population, concrete roads, no trees…”; therefore, they are worried that climate change combined with electromagnetic waves will affect people’s health.

After receiving the petition, the reporter investigated the matter. It is known that on the same day, December 27, 2016, 20 households also submitted a petition to the People's Committee of Trung Do Ward with the above content.

One day later, on December 28, 2016, the Trung Do Ward Urban Management Department coordinated with the Vinh City Urban Order Management Team to inspect the construction of the antenna pole at Mr. Thang's house. After the inspection, Mr. Thang's family presented construction permit No. 367/GPXD-UBND issued by Vinh City People's Committee on December 12, 2016 with the following contents: height of the house to place the BTS station (excluding the roof) 7.0m; station construction area 108 m²; antenna pole type: elastic wire; antenna pole height: 18.0 m; total height of the structure (from natural ground level) 25.55 m. This BTS station was also approved for location by the Department of Information and Communications in Official Dispatch No. 1641/STTTT-QLVT dated November 21, 2014.

After checking, Trung Do Ward People's Committee issued Document No. 433/UBND-DT dated December 28, 2016 in response to the citizen's petition and requested Viettel Nghe An - Military Telecommunications Group to build the antenna pole to ensure the safety of life and property of neighboring households. However, 20 households still disagreed and continued to request the demolition of the project.

Faced with that situation, on January 6, 2017, the People's Committee of Trung Do Ward issued a document requesting the Viettel Nghe An Branch - Military Telecommunications Group to provide relevant documents and arrange a working schedule for the People's Committee of the Ward to invite the residential group of blocks 13 and 14. The meeting between the three parties including representatives of the People's Committee of the Ward, Viettel Nghe An and the residential group took place afterwards, on January 10, 2017.

According to the meeting minutes, Viettel Nghe An representative, Mr. Le Van Tinh, explained that the BTS transceiver station did not affect human health and had all the necessary documents and procedures related to the installation. However, the people still did not agree and requested to "temporarily stop construction and stop operation of the BTS station". The incident was reported by the Trung Do Ward People's Committee to the Nghe An Department of Construction and Vinh City People's Committee in Document No. 08/BC-UBND dated January 11, 2017.

Leaders of Trung Do ward (Vinh city) inspected the current status of Mr. Nguyen Quang Thang's house.

Safety factors must be ensured.

Mr. Vuong Tien Hung - Technical Manager of Viettel Nghe An branch confirmed that the BTS station at Mr. Thang's house is currently in the process of installation and construction, and has not yet been put into operation. However, residents are still insecure and worried about the house structure not ensuring the construction and the electromagnetic waves affecting their health. In order to clarify the above two issues, Nghe An Newspaper reporters have learned about the safety assessment of the construction from the authorities.

Regarding the housing structure to ensure the project, Mr. Thang's house was inspected by HCA Consulting and Construction Company Limited (Ha Tinh) on December 2, 2016. The inspection result document clearly stated that "The current status of the house is solidly built, the foundations, pillars, concrete beams are guaranteed, the walls are built with solid bricks".

The conclusion of the appraisal document also affirmed that "The project meets the safety conditions for bearing the load when installing antenna poles and auxiliary equipment; complies with the requirements for grounding, lightning protection, fire prevention and fighting according to the regulations of the installed project, ensuring safety during storms, fire prevention and fighting, load bearing capacity, safety and stability".

The document clearly states: “The appraisal unit will be responsible for the above appraisal results”. Viettel Nghe An Branch has approved the construction drawing design appraisal report in Decision No. 1120/QD-NAN-XDHT dated December 2, 2016. Vinh City People's Committee issued Construction Permit No. 367/GPXD-UBND dated December 12, 2016. Thus, the implementation of the construction of the above antenna pole and BTS station has been approved, examined, approved and granted a Construction Permit by the competent authority in accordance with regulations.

Second, regarding people's concerns about BTS stations affecting people's health. On January 27, 2016, in the column "People ask, authorities answer" of Nghe An Newspaper, Mr. Bui Dinh Long - Former Director of Nghe An Department of Health said: "There have been many studies both in the world and in Vietnam, but up to now, there is no scientific evidence confirming that electromagnetic waves affect human health, including many studies confirming that there is no effect at all.

However, based on the results of scientific research, the Ministry of Science and Technology has set certain standards to ensure people's health. The installation of BTS stations will not exceed those prescribed thresholds."

Thus, before being put into use, BTS stations must be inspected to fully comply with safety standards on exposure to electromagnetic waves and issued a certificate of inspection to ensure safety for people living nearby.

People can check and identify BTS stations that have been inspected because according to regulations, within 30 days from the date of issuance of the Inspection Certificate, organizations and enterprises must post a copy of the Inspection Certificate at the location where the BTS station is installed. For the BTS station installed at Mr. Thang's house, it has not been put into use yet so it has not been inspected.

From calculations based on TCVN 3718-1: 2005 on radio frequency radiation safety management issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology and QCVN 8:2010/BTTTT National technical regulation on electromagnetic field exposure of public land telephone base stations issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications, it shows that outside the range of 2 - 5 m horizontally from the BTS antenna mast, the level of electromagnetic exposure from the BTS has decreased below the safety regulations to ensure the health of people living around in the long term. Therefore, people can rest assured about the safety of the BTS stations that have been inspected.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Truong - Deputy Head of Vinh City Urban Management Department said: "Although licensed, the investor, Viettel Nghe An, must be responsible for organizing the inspection of the construction quality, load-bearing safety, and health safety for people before putting the project into use and periodically according to regulations". Currently, the project is under construction, after completion, Viettel Nghe An must conduct inspection according to requirements before being used.

Thus, for the antenna column and BTS station of Viettel Nghe An installed at Mr. Thang's house, before being put into use, it must be inspected for construction quality and inspected for full compliance with safety standards on exposure to electromagnetic waves. Therefore, in order for people to have consensus, the authorities need to carefully check the above two factors, and must put people's safety first.

Phuong Thao