Chau Binh auxiliary dam and drainage canal component won high award

(Baonghean.vn) - The Mong village hydroelectric power plant project in Yen Hop commune (Quy Hop) started construction on April 30, 2010 and has been going on for more than a year and a half. According to the initial survey, the Mong village hydroelectric power plant project with an elevation of 83m will affect 7 communes, and more than 3,800 households will have to be relocated. Of which, Chau Binh commune (Quy Chau) will have to be relocated almost entirely.

To reduce the negative impact on the people in the entire reservoir area, the relevant authorities involved in the project have stepped in to re-examine the design. After the Mong Village Irrigation and Hydropower Project was approved by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, although the project was only 76.4m high and had an auxiliary project of building a 13km long drainage canal, Chau Binh commune still had 12/17 villages affected, including 210 households with 4,452 people who had to be relocated.

Realizing that Chau Binh commune is a prosperous commune, with many advantages in terms of land, transportation, irrigation... to build a new rural area; at the same time, Chau Binh is a commune with a high population density, including Thai people who have lived here for a long time and many households from lowland districts who came here to build a new mountainous economic zone many years ago have settled down, made a living, and have a stable economy; while the areas planned to resettle people have no better points, and cannot accommodate people. With the above motivations, the authorities from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the authorities have joined in looking for a new solution.

After many options and many controversial opinions, up to now, the plan to build the Chau Binh auxiliary dam and drainage canal has been evaluated as the optimal plan by Nghe An Irrigation Association.

The project of the Chau Binh auxiliary dam and drainage canal component was carried out by the Center for Consulting, Application of Science, Technology and Irrigation Technology, Nghe An Irrigation Association, by Mr. Nguyen Quang Hoa - Vice Chairman, General Secretary of the Association and Director of the Irrigation Investment and Construction Management Board; Engineer Nguyen Tri Duc - Member and Irrigation Engineer Tran Huu Luc - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An.

The Chau Binh auxiliary dam and drainage canal component plan includes the following main construction items:

Building an earth dam (including auxiliary dam 1 to block Co Ba river, auxiliary dams 2 and 3 to protect Chau Binh commune area).

Dig a 50m wide, +74m high canal through the lake bottom to lead water from the Co Ba river basin into the Mong village reservoir.

Digging Chau Binh drainage canal with a bottom width of 8 - 20m, initial design water level of canal +71.5m to drain water in the area to Cong stream.

With the construction plan of the Chau Binh auxiliary dam and drainage canal component, the goal and task is to protect the residential area in the center of Chau Binh town, reduce the number of displaced people from 775 households to 565 households and maintain infrastructure including: schools, kindergartens, commune People's Committee headquarters, commune health stations, post offices, high-voltage power lines, National Highway 48 to reduce the pressure of compensation, relocation and resettlement support of the Mong village reservoir project.

The Chau Binh auxiliary dam and drainage canal project won the special prize "Nghe An Province's Science and Technology Innovation 2011" and won the third prize at the 11th National Technical Innovation Contest, 2010 - 2011.

During the days of preparing to welcome the Year of the Dragon, thousands of people in Chau Binh commune were informed that they would not have to relocate due to the impact of Ban Mong reservoir, and that most of the local infrastructure and facilities were maintained, which made them happy and reassured. This was also a reward for those who were dedicated to the country and the people and had built the Chau Binh auxiliary dam and drainage canal project.

Nguyen Minh Giang