Upgrade and repair weak structures before the storm season

(Baonghean) -Accelerating the progress of projects and works is the goal set for relevant levels and sectors in completing technical infrastructure works on time to ensure safety for people during the flood season. Therefore, along with actively seeking investment capital, relevant levels and sectors have mobilized construction units to make efforts to invest in implementing works on schedule...

Fixing landslides that frequently occur on National Highway 7A, Khe Thoi - Nam Can section.

In 2011, at Khe Ang - Nghia Hong - Nghia Dan spillway, a car carrying 11 people was swept away by floodwaters, but fortunately all 11 people were saved. Then in 2012, also at this spillway, 30 motorbikes and a 4-seat car were swept away, killing 2 people, and on September 19, 2013, a 7-seat car was swept away by floodwaters while crossing the spillway, killing 5 people... Every rainy season, Khe Ang spillway becomes a black spot for traffic safety on Provincial Road 531, and if there is no investment in building a bridge, there will be more tragic accidents. Therefore, through the Central Road Maintenance Fund, flood and storm recovery funds, and the provincial budget, in March 2014, the Khe Ang bridge construction project (invested by Nghe An Department of Transport, the design consultant is VINACO Traffic Construction Consulting Joint Stock Company) started construction.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Ky - Director of the Department of Transport said: "The project implementation time is 6 months from the start of construction. This is one of the projects that all levels, sectors and especially the people are very interested in, so the Department of Transport regularly inspects and urges the contractor (Joint Venture of Investment Joint Stock Company 486 and Hong An Joint Stock Company) to ensure construction on schedule. With the attention and timely support in all aspects of all levels, sectors and people, the project is currently being implemented by the construction unit focusing on equipment, machinery and human resources to ensure the progress, quality and determination to complete on August 30 to promptly meet the travel needs of the people of Nghia Hong, Nghia Mai, Nghia Yen, Nghia Hung communes (Nghia Dan district) and neighboring communes to develop production as well as ensure the safety of tens of thousands of people during the rainy season".

Every year during the flood season, ensuring the safety of traffic routes and weak irrigation works is always a huge pressure for related departments and sectors. Learning from previous years, before the 2014 flood season, the Department of Transport tightened the management of units under the sector, from developing response plans for incidents to implementing road maintenance and repair. Along with that, the Department prioritized investment capital for maintenance and upgrading of road sections that are prone to flooding, landslides, and traffic black spots, and at the same time installed additional signs on important routes.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Ky added: “The traffic system in our province is very diverse and due to the very complicated weather, frequent rains and floods cause flooding, traffic jams, erosion of roadbeds and surfaces, causing many traffic routes to deteriorate very quickly, especially on district and commune roads, while the annual budget allocated for the management and maintenance of the province's roads is very low (in 2013 it was 32 billion VND and in 2014 it was about 22.3 billion VND), on district and commune roads there is almost no funding support, so there are many difficulties in ensuring traffic safety”. The province's support capital is very difficult, so the industry has proactively sought and mobilized capital from international organizations, ministries, and central branches... And through those support channels, the industry is currently actively implementing the first phase with a capital of 90 billion VND to invest in urgent and essential works and projects to serve natural disaster prevention, storms and floods, and the second phase is about 76 billion VND. Important traffic routes will be maintained and upgraded in time before this year's storm and flood season. Along with that, the industry is actively mobilizing ODA capital to invest in and upgrade Hieu Bridge (Thai Hoa Town) and Dinh Bridge (Quy Hop), which are two important bridges on National Highway 46.

To cope well during the flood season, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also "shoulders" a lot of work and one of the important tasks is to ensure the safety of the dam system. Due to the characteristics of our province, there are many dams (currently there are 625 dams, of which irrigation companies manage 50 dams with a storage capacity of 1 million m3 or more, communes and cooperatives manage 575 dams) and most of these works have a usage time of 30 - 40 years, many dams were built over 50 years so there is a potential risk of being unsafe during the storm season but there is a lack of investment capital to upgrade, so during the flood season these works are not only at risk of breaking, but also threaten the lives and property of people in the downstream areas...

Mo Da Dam (in Giang Son Dong Commune - Do Luong) has an area of ​​45 hectares (calculated at the time of overflow), this is one of the large dams in Do Luong district serving irrigation water for agricultural production in the upper regions of Do Luong district, currently the dam needs to be invested in and upgraded promptly. Also in Giang Son Dong Commune, Da Mai Lake project is currently being invested in repair and upgrade and although capital sources are difficult, the construction unit is still trying to implement on schedule. It is known that in 2013, along with the capital of 50 billion VND from the Central Government, the province supported funding to repair weak works and most localities mobilized additional capital from the budget, labor days of the people to repair works serving production and flood prevention.

However, the efforts of all levels, sectors and people have not yet met the requirements to ensure the safety of the lake and dam system during the flood season. Mr. Nguyen Van De - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: "ODA capital for investment in upgrading the lake and dam system is currently facing difficulties. Currently, the province is using urgent capital to implement 6 projects: Da Mai Lake (Do Luong), Ba Tuy Lake, Nha Tro, Khe Hat, Bau Trang (Yen Thanh), Khe Vinh Lake (Thai Hoa Town). Each project is only invested from 7 - 8 billion VND and currently only 30% of the capital has been allocated, so the sector must regularly mobilize construction units to invest capital in advance to ensure progress, at some projects, the focus is on completing before the storm season this year".

Faced with the alarming reality of the unsafe state of the dam system in our province, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has sent a document to relevant ministries and branches with a list of priority projects to build and upgrade reservoirs in the province, including 7 dams that urgently need repair in 2014: Khe Giang, Khe Dung (Quynh Luu), Khe Dua (Thai Hoa Town), Dong Kho (Tan Ky), Don Hung, Khe Sat (Yen Thanh), Bau Nai (Do Luong). At the same time, depending on the actual level of degradation of the dams, priority will be proposed for repair and upgrading in the following years.

Hoang Vinh