Nghia Dan struggles with water plant project

Urgent need

In 2007, Nghia Dan district was officially divided into Thai Hoa town and Nghia Dan district. Accordingly, Nghia Dan district moved its district center to Nghia Binh commune (formerly 1/5 farm). Since the division, Nghia Dan district has been interested in investing in building facilities and infrastructure to serve the local socio-economic development. In which, the construction of a clean water plant is one of the top priority items.

Specifically, on May 29, 2009, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 2317/QD.UBND-CN on permitting the establishment of an investment project to build the Nghia Dan District Water Plant. On October 18, 2012, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision 4041/QD.UBND-DTXD, approving the Nghia Dan District Water Plant Investment Project. This project is invested by the Nghia Dan District People's Committee with a total investment of more than 100 billion VND. The project is implemented in Nghia Binh commune, with a capacity of 5,000m³/day and night, promises to ensure clean water supply according to the development needs of the new district center of Nghia Dan district and neighboring areas.

According to the design, this project includes the following items: a level I pumping station and a raw water supply pipeline from Sao River Lake to the treatment area; a treatment area with a capacity of 5,000m³/day and night on an area of ​​13,263.77m²; water supply network includes transmission, distribution, service and connection pipelines to households.

In 2013, the Nghia Dan District Water Plant project was officially started. Nghia Dan residents were happy to be able to use water instead of the alum-contaminated borehole water. However, after a period of construction and construction of 2 rows of houses and 2 raw water tanks, the project was ... "shelved".

Being present at the project area, we noticed that, on the large land, in addition to the built and abandoned items, the surrounding area was full of weeds. Because there was no protective fence, this area became an ideal place for people to… graze cattle.

Asking a resident living next to the project, we learned that in 2013 the project started with great fanfare, but stopped after a few items were built.

struggling to do

After a long period of "shelving", the Nghia Dan District Water Plant Construction Investment Project was approved by the Provincial People's Committee to convert the form of public investment to the form of public-private partnership investment under the BOT contract (build - operate - transfer), in Official Dispatch 7761/UBND-DTXD dated October 29, 2015. On November 24, 2015, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision 1721/QD-UBND.CNMT approving the proposal for the Nghia Dan Water Plant Construction Investment Project under the BOT form.

After announcing the plan to build a new water plant, the Provincial People's Committee approved the feasibility study report for the project in Decision 5533/QD-UBND dated November 8, 2016. Since 2017, the People's Committee of Nghia Dan district has widely announced the invitation for bids to implement this project, and by early 2018, the contractor has been selected.

Because during the pre-qualification process to select contractors, only the consortium of HQ Environmental Technology and Investment Consulting Joint Stock Company - Construction and Business Development Joint Stock Company purchased and submitted documents. Immediately after that, this consortium officially became the investor for the Nghia Dan Water Plant Construction Investment Project.

According to actual research, since 2016, when there was a policy to convert the form of public investment to the form of BOT, HQ Environmental Technology and Investment Consulting Joint Stock Company was the unit that organized the planning, introduced treatment technology and surveyed the demand for clean water in Nghia Dan district.

According to the planning, the new Nghia Dan district water plant will be built in Hai Binh hamlet, Nghia Binh commune on a total area of ​​more than 2.8 hectares, of which the raw water pumping station has a total planned land area of ​​400m2.²This factory has a total installed capacity of 30,000m³/day and night, with a total investment of more than 200 billion VND. In which, phase 1 has a capacity of 15,000 m³/day and night, phase 2 completed with capacity of 30,000 m³/day and night according to design.

Like the previous project, this plant is expected to provide water to Nghia Dan town, surrounding areas and projects, industrial clusters and zones in the area. The project implementation period is 2 years. In addition to locating the plant at a new location near Sao River Lake, this new project will also take advantage of the infrastructure from the previous project.

Despite high expectations, nearly 10 years since being allowed to change the investment form, the Nghia Dan Water Plant Construction Investment Project is still at a standstill.

Need to resolve once and for all

While the completion of the Nghia Dan District Water Plant is still unknown, local people are still forced to use unsanitary well water. Especially in Nghia Dan town, where many agencies, units and densely populated residential areas are located, they still have to use drilled water.

Digging deeper into this issue, we learned that on September 7, 2016, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision 4331/QD-UBND approving the Clean Water Supply Project in Nghe An province for the period 2016-2020. It is worth mentioning that at the time of developing this project, there were 3/21 urban areas where people had not yet used clean water from the centralized clean water supply system, namely Nghia Dan town, Kim Son town (Que Phong) and Hoang Mai town. In Decision 4331, the Provincial People's Committee also determined the task of completing phase 1 of the Nghia Dan Water Plant Construction Investment Project under the BOT form by 2017, and completing phase 2 by 2020.

However, at present, while the water plants in Kim Son town and Hoang Mai town have come into operation, in Nghia Dan, the investor is still "struggling" in choosing a location to take raw water - a key factor to start the project construction. And it is not known whether this project will stop or continue.

Mr. Tran Manh Ha - Vice Chairman of Nghia Dan District People's Committee said: Currently, there is no decision to stop the project to build a water plant under the BOT form or switch to another form. According to Mr. Ha, the biggest difficulty is taking raw water from Sao River lake. If raw water is taken from Hieu River in Thai Hoa town (more than 25km away), the cost will be too high. In addition, there is a plan to connect the clean water source of Thai Hoa town, but so far it has not been implemented.

The delay in the construction of the water plant in Nghia Dan is an issue that needs to be resolved immediately, especially in the context of the increasingly urgent need for clean water, and at the same time, Nghia Dan district is on the way to building a district that meets new rural standards. If this situation continues, it will not only affect daily life but also pose a potential risk to people's health due to the use of water sources that do not meet safety standards.