Completely resolve the backlog in the resettlement areas of Hua Na Hydropower Plant in 2016?

(Baonghean) – 14 villages with 1,362 households in 2 communes Thong Thu and Dong Van (Que Phong) had to give up their "hometowns" to implement the Hua Na Hydropower Project. However, although this project has been completed and put into operation for nearly 3 years, there are still many backlogs in compensation, support and resettlement work.

Lots of backlog

According to the October 2015 report of the Que Phong District Fatherland Front Committee, the lives of people in the Hua Na Hydropower resettlement areas face many difficulties, with a lack of public infrastructure, production land, and farming land; people's income is low and unstable; people's lives are dependent on subsidized rice and compensation and support from the project.

Therefore, it is recommended that the District People's Committee direct all levels and sectors to complete the compensation for site clearance and have support mechanisms to develop project programs and production models associated with the climate and soil conditions of the region, helping people have appropriate production and livestock farming methods; speed up land allocation and issuance of land use right certificates to stabilize production.

A landslide at Pu Khoong resettlement area (Dong Van commune).

Dong Van is a commune with 4 resettlement areas: Huoi Cha La, Huoi Duc - Huoi Man, Nam Mu - Nam Ke and Khun Na (Pu Khoong). Coming here at the end of 2015, Mr. Lang Van Tuan - Secretary of the Commune Party Committee said that the investor still "owes the people 18.4 billion VND, and there are 25 related plans that have not been approved".

Present at Pu Khoong village, the bleak picture of the resettlement areas of the Hua Na hydropower project appears more clearly. Pu Khoong has 4 centralized clean water projects, but all are unusable due to broken water pipes; some housing projects and internal traffic roads have been degraded; there are 2 landslides... Village chief Lang Van Thoai discussed: "The village has 35 households, 143 people, of which 16 are poor households and 7 are near-poor households. Pu Khoong has many problems, I hope the newspaper will give opinions so that the superiors can help solve them for the people...".

Pu Khoong village chief Lang Van Thoai inspects an abandoned clean water project.

According to the People's Committee of Que Phong district, by October 2015, the Compensation and Resettlement Council of Hua Na Hydropower Plant had paid compensation and support of 676.1 billion VND (including rice support). Currently, there are 32 compensation and support decisions approved by the District People's Committee with a total cost of 48.7 billion VND, but the investor has not yet allocated funds for payment; the Compensation and Resettlement Council has coordinated with Hua Na Hydropower Joint Stock Company to appraise and complete 12 compensation plans with a total cost of over 50 billion VND.

Regarding resettlement construction, 0.9km of internal road in the Xop Co - Nam Nien resettlement area is still under construction; the internal traffic road in Na Luom (Thong Thu) does not have funds to construct the concrete road surface; 2 water works in Nam Nui - Nam Ke and Pieng Cu have not been handed over; the embankment system to prevent landslides in Huoi Dua has not been approved by the investor for design...

Regarding the issue of production land, with annual crop land, at 5 locations Xop Co - Nam Nien, Huoi Sin - Huoi Lan (Tien Phong), Huoi Cha La (Dong Van), Huoi Luom and Na Luom (Thong Thu), land has not been allocated to the people; land for wet rice cultivation has only been temporarily allocated 1.06 ha at Xop Co - Nam Nien; forestry land has 5 resettlement locations in Thong Thu commune, 1 resettlement location in Tien Phong commune, land allocation to each household has not been implemented.

A road in the resettlement area of ​​Dong Van commune was eroded.

According to Mr. Truong Minh Cuong - Vice Chairman of Que Phong District People's Committee, for more than 2 years, the Provincial People's Committee and Que Phong District have repeatedly urged Hua Na Hydropower Joint Stock Company to resolve the backlog in the resettlement areas. Even in the last months of 2015, the Provincial People's Committee held a meeting and issued a document requesting Hua Na Hydropower Joint Stock Company to provide funding to resolve the backlog, however, the problems in Hua Na Hydropower resettlement areas are still very large.

Will it be resolved in 2016?

To completely resolve the backlog in resettlement areas, over 337 billion VND is needed (of which, the capital needed in 2015 is 131.48 billion VND; and, 205.6 billion VND is the capital needed in the following years). However, in 2015, due to unusual weather developments, widespread drought, and extremely low water levels, Hua Na Hydropower Joint Stock Company had to stop generating electricity in the second half of November and the entire month of December 2015. Total electricity output in 2015 only reached about 62% of the design capacity, a decrease of more than 200 billion VND compared to 2014. Mr. Trinh Bao Ngoc - Director of Hua Na Hydropower Joint Stock Company raised the current situation of production and business, and discussed: "We know clearly about the problems in resettlement areas, however, due to the difficult production and business situation, we have been slow to resolve the backlog problems".

In order to overcome the difficulties, Hua Na Hydropower Joint Stock Company has proposed to its superiors, the Vietnam Oil and Gas Power Corporation, a number of solutions such as adding some charter capital, initially providing 53.4 billion VND out of the total increased charter capital of 255.1 billion VND to promptly have capital to pay compensation and support costs for households as requested by the Provincial People's Committee; approving the company to negotiate with banks to borrow an additional 300 billion VND in 2015 to have capital to pay for resettlement construction contractors to complete unfinished items, complete infrastructure of resettlement areas and resolve remaining backlogs in the project investment process; supporting and urging the Vietnam Electricity Group, the National Power Transmission Corporation, and Power Transmission Company 1 to promptly receive and pay for the investment costs of the 220kv line (about 365 billion VND) to have more funds...

A resettlement area of ​​Hua Na Hydropower Plant in Thong Thu Commune (Que Phong).

Currently, the Vietnam Oil and Gas Power Corporation has stepped in to resolve the existing problems and obstacles in the resettlement areas of the Hua Na Hydropower Project. On December 8, 2015, the Vietnam Oil and Gas Power Corporation sent Official Letter 3300/DLDK-TCKT&KT to Hua Na Hydropower Joint Stock Company requesting the completion of bank loan procedures to "pay urgent expenses such as providing rice to people, providing compensation for site clearance" and "absolutely not allowing complicated problems and complaints to occur"; in addition, stepping in to have the Vietnam Electricity Group pay for the investment capital for the construction of the 220kV Hua Na - Thanh Hoa line so that this unit has more funds to resolve the backlog in the resettlement areas.

A representative of Hua Na Hydropower Joint Stock Company said: “With the participation of the Corporation, the negotiation between the company and the bank has been quite favorable. We hope that after reviewing the documents, in the first quarter of 2016, the bank will disburse funds for the company to resolve the outstanding issues in the resettlement areas as directed by the Corporation…”.

Nhat Lan