Nghe An: 15 clean water projects 'shelved' due to lack of capital

(Baonghean) - There are 15 clean water factories worth hundreds of billions of dong in Nghe An that have been "shelved" for many years.

People in Quynh Lam commune (Quynh Luu) often lack water for daily use in the summer. Therefore, when the State supported investment in building a clean water plant, people were very excited. However, after 5 years of starting construction of the plant, the project is still "waiting".

Mr. Nguyen Ba Tinh - Chairman of Quynh Lam Commune People's Committee said: "The local clean water project started in 2013, expected to be completed and put into use after 24 months. However, when the project was completed, the contractor stopped construction because of a funding bottleneck. According to regulations, the project is invested by the State with 60% of the capital, the remaining 40% is the local counterpart capital. Up to this point, the local counterpart capital of 8 billion VND has not been collected because the people have not contributed yet."

Lacking clean water, many people in the coastal area of ​​Quynh Luu have to buy water for use at a price of 50,000-70,000 VND/m3. Photo: Thu Huyen

The centralized domestic water supply project in the mountainous commune of Minh Thanh (Yen Thanh) has completed the construction of a water reservoir, an operating house, and a treatment area, but has no equipment or machinery yet.

Mr. Tran Khanh Tung - Chairman of Minh Thanh Commune People's Committee wondered: "This water plant project has a total investment of nearly 25 billion VND, of which the local counterpart capital is 30%, the province supports 2 billion VND, the rest is invested by the Central Government. Up to now, the project has completed about 60% of the volume, the State has disbursed 12.7 billion VND to the construction unit, the contractor has basically completed the rough construction. Due to the project's slow progress, the commune recently invited people to a meeting to discuss solutions to contribute the counterpart capital, but the people have not agreed and will wait until the project is completed and the water source is brought to the alley to contribute...

The project has been stopped for many years, causing the built items to be at risk of deterioration and damage. Some families even lock buffalo and cows in their houses to install equipment because there is no one to protect them.

The situation in the above two communes is also the reality of many clean water projects in the province. Yen Thanh district alone has 7 centralized domestic water supply projects under construction, which have been suspended for several years (in the communes of Phu Thanh, Minh Thanh, Lien Thanh, Long Thanh, Phuc Thanh, Tay Thanh, Do Thanh). In addition, there is a reason that the State's funding source is limited, so the contractor has stopped construction. According to the survey, these projects are very urgent, because these localities are low-lying areas, often flooded; or high mountainous areas, often experiencing drought and water shortages.

The centralized domestic water supply project in Minh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district has completed the rough construction, but construction has stopped for the past 3 years. Photo: XH

Talking to us, Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said: Currently, in the province, there are 15 unfinished clean water supply projects, which have stopped construction for many years, concentrated in the districts: Yen Thanh, Quynh Luu, Que Phong...

These projects are invested in the form of 60% State capital, 40% local counterpart capital. Up to this point, the Department has surveyed and re-evaluated, showing that there are 3 projects nearly completed, 6 projects completed about 50-60% of the volume, the remaining 6 projects are newly constructed, facing difficulties in capital sources, especially local counterpart capital.

Faced with that situation, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed to the Provincial People's Committee two options: First, combine capital sources, continue to invest in a rolling manner, each year completing 1-3 projects that have completed 50% or more of their volume; for newly constructed projects that face difficulties in capital sources, localities continue to mobilize people to contribute capital in the form of 40% of counterpart capital. Second, mobilize socialization. However, the socialization solution will be difficult, because the amount of clean water used in rural areas is not much, so few businesses are bold enough to invest in water plants with tens of billions of dong...

Xuan Hoang