The Government's Decree on clean water has not been fully implemented.

Provincial direction

Although the Vinh City People's Committee invested more than 30 billion VND from the budget to build a water supply pipeline system to 2,346 households in Nghi An commune, but after a long time, only a few households have been able to use tap water (article "After 16 years of being in Vinh city, Nghi An commune only has 42/2,346 households using tap water.” – Nghe An Newspaper, September 19, 2024), we have informed the Department of Construction - the Standing Office of the Provincial Clean Water Safety Committee, to request solutions, or make recommendations to competent authorities to handle this problem.

And it was surprising to be told that this is an issue that the Provincial People's Committee is concerned about and has issued many directive documents. Specifically, in just 2 years (2019 - 2020), the Provincial People's Committee has issued 3 documents (Document No. 7523/UBND-CN dated September 23, 2019; Document No. 7026/UBND-CN dated October 12, 2020; Document No. 7301/UBND-CN dated October 21, 2020) directing the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to develop water supply plans and sign agreements on water supply service implementation with water supply units in the area.

According to the analysis of the representative of the Department of Construction, the Agreement on implementation of water supply services between the People's Committee at the district level and the water supply units is a regulation of the Government in Decree 117/2007/ND-CP, which is a legal document stipulating the contents that must be implemented between the water supply unit and the People's Committee at the district level. The Agreement on implementation of water supply services, after being signed, will be the basis for implementing the work of monitoring, inspecting and handling when the water supply units do not implement the service conditions in accordance with the regulations, thereby ensuring clean water security, meeting the essential needs of serving people's lives.

Accessing the above documents of the Provincial People's Committee, it is clear that it is necessary to sign an Agreement on implementing water supply services between the District People's Committee and water supply units. As in Document No. 7026/UBND-CN dated October 12, 2020, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh commented:

“1. Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company urgently organizes work with the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns in the province to unify the content of the agreement on implementing water supply services. Assign the representative of the State capital at Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company to focus on implementation.

2. Assign the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to coordinate with Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company to review and agree on the agreement document to implement water supply services according to current regulations. After agreeing on the content with the water supply unit, send the draft Agreement document to the Department of Construction for comments before completing the signing.

3. The Department of Construction shall preside over and coordinate with relevant departments and branches to study regulations, guide and urge district-level People's Committees and water supply units to carry out procedures in accordance with current regulations.

Or in the document issued 1 week later (Document No. 7301/UBND-CN dated October 21, 2020), the Provincial People's Committee requested the Department of Construction to "Instruct and direct the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to complete the preparation of water supply plans and sign agreements on water supply service implementation with water supply units in the area..."; request the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to "Complete the preparation of water supply plans and sign agreements on water supply service implementation (in which, the assignment of water supply areas to water supply units must be specified) with water supply units in the area...".

Not interested in implementation!

Through the above documents of the Provincial People's Committee, the urgency in signing an agreement to implement water supply services is very clear, so how have the District People's Committee and related water supply units implemented it? In response to this question, according to the representative of the Department of Construction, in 2023, the Provincial People's Committee continued to issue directive documents; with the Department of Construction, it has provided guidance and regularly issued urging documents, but the District People's Committee and water supply units have not paid attention to signing agreements to implement water supply services.

To prove this, this person gave us access to many related documents, including Document No. 3920/SXD-HTKT, newly issued on September 13, 2024. Regarding the current situation of inadequacies in the provision of clean water services in Vinh city and surrounding areas, information is provided in Document No. 3920/SXD-HTKT with the content: "Through research and understanding of the general situation in the province, especially in Vinh city and surrounding areas, in recent times, the demand for clean water from the centralized clean water supply system has increased. However, the implementation of the Water Supply Service Contract and the procedures and documents for establishing connection points to the water supply network for each water user of the water supply unit in the area still have many shortcomings; the refusal to provide water supply services to newly built households (including residents in new urban areas) has also been reported".

To resolve this problem, the Department of Construction also affirmed: "There have been many documents directing and guiding the People's Committees at the district level and water supply units to organize and implement according to the assigned tasks in accordance with the regulations on production, supply and consumption of clean water. However, the occurrence of the above-mentioned problems has not been paid attention to by local authorities and water supply units and has not been reported to the standing agency of the Provincial Steering Committee for Safe Water Supply".

At the same time, the Department of Construction mentioned Document No. 2808/SXD-HTKT dated August 11, 2024, urging the People's Committees of districts, Vinh city and towns to make water supply plans and sign agreements on water supply service implementation with water supply units, thereby requesting: "The People's Committees of districts, Vinh city and towns coordinate with water supply units in the area to continue implementing the contents according to Document No. 2808/SXD-HTKT dated August 11, 2024 of the Department of Construction; at the same time, review and evaluate the investment in construction, the results of the development of water supply systems, pipeline networks (including service pipeline networks) according to the planning and plans approved by competent authorities to ensure the rights of people within the water supply service area but have not been used yet".

Not agreed?

It is known that Vinh City People's Committee has just issued Document No. 5027/UBND-QLDT dated September 4, 2024 on "coordination in signing the Water Supply Service Agreement, approving the Water Supply Development Plan in the area" to the Provincial People's Committee, the Provincial Safe Water Supply Steering Committee and the Department of Construction. Mr. Bui Xuan Thanh, an expert from the Urban Management Department, quickly exchanged: "The City People's Committee fully implemented the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, however, the water supply unit lacked coordination. In this document, the city has fully reported, it can be understood why it has not been able to sign an agreement with the water supply unit yet...".

See Document No. 5027/UBND-QLDT of Vinh City People's Committee with the following content: "In carrying out the assigned tasks, the City People's Committee has proactively developed a Draft Agreement on water supply services according to the guidance of Circular No. 01/2008/TT-BXD dated January 2, 2008 of the Ministry of Construction guiding the implementation of a number of contents of Decree 117/2007/ND-CP dated July 11, 2007 of the Government on production, supply and consumption of clean water; at the same time, on October 9, 2023, Document No. 5590/UBND-QLDT was sent to Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company to supplement the information in the Draft attached to the Document and organize work to sign the Agreement on water supply services in accordance with regulations. However, the local water supply unit did not respond.

On December 5, 2023, the City People's Committee continued to issue Document No. 6888/UBND-QLDT to Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company to urge coordination in signing the Water Supply Service Agreement. At the same time, at working sessions on other related contents, the City People's Committee urged and reminded, however, up to now, the company has not responded.

Therefore, Vinh City People's Committee affirmed: "Up to now, the task of signing the Water Supply Service Agreement in the area has not been completed due to the lack of coordination from the water supply unit in the area."

On September 24, 2024, when explaining to us the reason for the delay in providing water supply services to Nghi An commune, Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company mentioned the reason for not signing the Water Supply Service Agreement with Vinh City People's Committee. Accordingly, on February 15, 2023, Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company also issued Official Dispatch No. 42/CV-CNNA on signing the Water Supply Service Agreement, along with the Draft Water Supply Service Agreement, to Vinh City People's Committee. However, Vinh City People's Committee did not respond to Official Dispatch No. 42/CV-CNNA, but later issued a number of documents with draft agreements with content that was not close to the draft ...

Question: Signing a water supply service agreement between the district People's Committee and the water supply unit is a Government regulation, which has been directed by the Provincial People's Committee many times. In case of disagreement in drafting the content of the draft, why doesn't Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company propose to work or have a document proposing the City People's Committee to amend; or can it report and recommend the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Construction for consideration?

The representative of Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company acknowledged that the company has not really focused on signing the Water Supply Service Agreement and said that "in October we will focus on this content".