Clarifying responsibilities for violations at the Suoi Choang hydropower project

Slow progress due to investor's fault

On September 29, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of the Department of Industry and Trade said that this agency has just sent a report to the Provincial People's Committee on the inspection and handling of information reported in the press related to the Suoi Choang hydropower project. This is a hydropower project that started construction 14 years ago but has not yet been completed; in addition, during the construction process, there were also violations thatNghe An Newspaper has just published a series of articles reflecting.Immediately afterwards, the Provincial People's Committee issued an official dispatch directing the Department of Industry and Trade to inspect and handle the information reported in the newspaper.

According to Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, the Suoi Choang hydropower project is invested by MECO Power Investment and Development Joint Stock Company and was granted the first Investment Certificate by the People's Committee of Nghe An province on April 7, 2009 with a capacity of 4MW and the Department of Planning and Investment granted the Investment Registration Certificate (3rd change) on September 17, 2021 with a capacity of 4MW.

Regarding the reason for the delay, according to Mr. Hai, the project started in 2009. After more than 1 year of construction, all auxiliary works have been completed, including site leveling, electricity and water supply, warehouses, camps, construction roads; 100% of the volume of the cofferdam in phase I and phase II; 100% of the volume of the project's management and operation building; 40% of the volume of the spillway. However, in 2011, the investor, Meco Power Investment and Development Joint Stock Company, temporarily suspended construction. It was not until 2017 that the project was resumed by the investor.

“Thus, the responsibility for the delay lies with the investor for not concentrating all resources to complete the project on schedule. However, up to now, the investment and construction work has been basically completed, but due to some objective reasons, the project has not completed the procedures to put into operation,” said Mr. Hai.

Regarding the adjustment of the installed capacity scale from 2.1 MW to 4 MW, according to the leader of the Department of Industry and Trade, currently, the Nghe An Provincial Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, has been approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1059/QD-TTg dated September 14, 2023 and the Suoi Choang hydropower project with an installed capacity of 4 MW is listed in the list of power source development investment projects in Appendix III, Power supply network development plan in Nghe An province for the period 2021-2030.

Meanwhile, the compensation and site clearance work for the Suoi Choang hydropower project was divided into two phases. Phase 1 included compensation and site clearance support for the construction site area, which was completed in 2009. Phase 2 included compensation and site clearance for the reservoir area. Compensation for trees, crops and structures for affected households in the reservoir area has been basically completed.

Along with that, compensation and support for the land value of households in Khe Diem village, some households in Khe Choang village, and some households in Khe Na, Khe Choang, Chau Dinh villages have completed the compensation plan but have not yet compensated for the value of assets on the land. For the remaining work, the investor is currently completing the necessary legal procedures for converting natural forests before being able to continue implementation.

In particular, regarding the issue of converting the purpose of using natural forests, the leader of the Department of Industry and Trade said that currently, the area of ​​8,0232 hectares of natural forests affected by the project has not been decided by the Prime Minister to change the purpose of using forests to other purposes. However, the project has been included in the list of works and projects that need to change the purpose of using forests in the content of adjusting the Provincial Forest Protection and Development Plan approved by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 2181/QD-UBND dated July 24, 2023. After completing the contents of the opinions of the General Department of Forestry, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will continue to advise the People's Committee to submit to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for appraisal and submit to the Prime Minister for decision in accordance with the provisions of law.

2 times fined

According to the report of the Department of Industry and Trade, in addition to land violations, the Suoi Choang hydropower project also violated construction planning. Specifically, in October 2008, the Department of Construction issued an official dispatch directing the appraisal of the master plan of the Suoi Choang hydropower plant in Con Cuong district. In which, it is required that after the master plan of the Suoi Choang hydropower plant at a scale of 1/5,000 is approved by the Provincial People's Committee, the investor must conduct a survey and make a detailed plan for the construction of the project clusters, and the head dam and factory areas need to be detailed planned at a scale of 1/500 according to the instructions in the circular of the Ministry of Construction. However, when construction started, the investor had not yet made a detailed plan at a scale of 1/500 for the head dam and factory areas.

10 years after the groundbreaking date, in July 2019, the People's Committee of Con Cuong district issued a decision to impose administrative sanctions on the implementation of site clearance and construction investment on the site but did not complete the procedures for construction investment management.

In addition, according to the leaders of the Department of Industry and Trade at the time of construction, the investor had not completed the procedures for land lease and land allocation, which was not in accordance with the provisions of the law on land procedures. The Chairman of the People's Committee of Con Cuong district issued a decision to impose an administrative penalty for land violations for land occupation, with a fine of more than 34 million VND and applied a remedial measure of "forcing the continuation of land allocation and land lease procedures according to regulations".

Suoi Choang Hydropower Project is behind scheduleOver the years, the Khe Na and Khe Bu villages and the Khe Nong residential area of ​​the Dan Lai people living upstream of Suoi Choang have been significantly affected, as roads are difficult to travel despite a long-standing road construction project. This is also the only area in Con Cuong district that still does not have electricity.

Regarding this issue, the leader of the Department of Industry and Trade said that this route was approved by the Provincial People's Committee in 2011. Of the total 12km of the project, 6km from the center of Chau Khe commune to Diem village has been completed, the remaining 6km from Diem village connecting to the beginning of the border patrol road - the road to Chau Khe Border Guard Station 553 (of which 3km passes through Suoi Choang Hydropower Plant) must stop construction due to overlapping with the return route (flood avoidance road) of the Suoi Choang Hydropower Project.

“This section of the route has seriously degraded, causing traffic difficulties for the people of Khe Na Village. After agreeing on the implementation plan with the investor of Suoi Choang Hydropower Plant, currently, the People's Committee of Con Cuong District (the investor) is completing the procedures for converting natural forests to continue construction,” said Mr. Tran Thanh Hai.

Regarding solutions to speed up the project's progress in the coming time, the leader of the Department of Industry and Trade said that the investor will focus resources to speed up the construction progress, site clearance, complete land allocation and lease procedures, etc., coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to soon complete the dossier on converting the purpose of using natural forests, continue to advise the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for appraisal, and submit to the Prime Minister for decision in accordance with the provisions of law.

Meanwhile, the People's Committee of Con Cuong district will direct and coordinate with investors to resolve difficulties and problems in compensation for crops and structures for affected households in the reservoir area; focus on immediately carrying out the inventory and compensation for land, crops and structures for affected households right after site clearance.

In addition, the Department of Industry and Trade will also advise the Provincial People's Committee to direct investors to focus all resources to speed up construction progress and promptly complete procedures related to site clearance, land lease, land allocation, and conversion of forest use purposes so that the Suoi Choang hydropower project can operate and generate electricity as soon as possible, avoiding the situation of extending the Investment Registration Certificate multiple times.

Currently, the Department of Industry and Trade is also coordinating with relevant departments, branches and localities to synthesize and advise the Provincial People's Committee to clarify the state management responsibilities of organizations, individuals and violations of investors in the implementation of the Suoi Choang hydropower project according to the request of the Provincial Party Standing Committee./.