Many houses are cracked, at risk of being swept into the hydroelectric reservoir in Nghe An

Fearful of death

For over a year now, every time it rains or is windy, Nguyen Van Hong (38 years old, Khe Kien village, Luu Kien commune, Tuong Duong district) and his wife do not dare to cook; the whole family huddles in a corner of the house out of fear. "Luckily the main house is made of solid wood so there are no signs yet," Hong said. But the kitchen and the foundation are now covered with cracks. Many are more than 10 meters long and more than 5 centimeters wide. The cracks are increasing in number and getting bigger, making the family worried. But Hong does not know when he will be able to move to a new place to stabilize his life.

Cracks along Mr. Hong's house.

Cracks under the floor.

“I bought land to build a house here nearly 20 years ago, and the hydroelectric plant has only been in operation for a few years. Before, there were no problems, but after the hydroelectric plant was put into operation, every house had cracks, and there was a risk of being pulled into the lake at any time. But the hydroelectric plant has not asked a word. They are too indifferent, too irresponsible with people's lives,” Mr. Hong said indignantly.

Mr. Hong is one of six households in Khe Kien village affected by the Ban Ang hydropower plant. For nearly two years now, they have been petitioning for support to relocate their homes, but so far, the hydropower plant has not paid any attention.

The crack is getting bigger and bigger, there is a risk that the house will be dragged down into the hydroelectric reservoir.

One of the most severely affected households was Mr. Lu Duy Hai’s house. According to Nghe An Newspaper reporters, right in front of the solid house’s threshold was a crack that ran dozens of meters long and was more than 10 centimeters wide. The crack cut off the remaining part of the house from the land, making the house seem ready to fall into the Nam Mo River. Inside the house, there were numerous crow’s feet.

Due to cracks, the underground electrical wiring system in the wall was even broken. During the inspection, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district discovered that the house foundation was cracked and subsided, the masonry wall was cracked in patches, the stone embankment foundation showed signs of displacement due to subsidence on the negative slope inside the hydroelectric reservoir; the reinforced concrete fence post with B40 mesh about 55m long collapsed to the edge of the reservoir and some other auxiliary works were washed away, the risk of affecting houses, property and people was very high.

The crack runs along the foundation of Mr. Hai's house.

Besides, Ms. Lo Thi Oanh does not even dare to stay in her house anymore because there are many cracks such as the house foundation and the embankment made of rubble that has partially collapsed on the edge of the lake, the wall of the karaoke room next to the river bank is cracked in many places. The toilet is tilted due to subsidence and many places are unsafe within the family area. “Our people's houses have been cracked and subsided by the hydropower plant since 2018 until now. The authorities have determined that we cannot continue to live here and said that the Ban Ang Hydropower Plant will compensate us to move to a new place. However, nearly 2 years have passed and we still have not had our wishes resolved. Currently, the 2020 storm season is approaching, so people like me are very worried that our property, lives and loved ones will be threatened,” said Mr. Lu Duy Hai.

disregard for people's lives

Receiving feedback from the people, in August 2019, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district established an inspection team to assess the level of impact on households within the Ban Ang hydropower reservoir. The inspection team coordinated with Nam Mo - Nam Non Hydropower Joint Stock Company (investor of Ban Ang Hydropower Plant), Luu Kien Commune People's Committee, Khe Kien Village Management Board and affected households to conduct detailed inspections and measurements of all items such as houses, structures, trees, crops, land, floors, and foundations at risk of landslides and subsidence for the 6 households mentioned above.

Cracks in Mr. Hai's house.

On December 27, 2019, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district sent a document requesting to resolve the petitions of the 6 above-mentioned households to the People's Committee of Nghe An province and Nam Mo - Nam Non Hydropower Joint Stock Company. The above document also clearly stated the current status of the 6 affected households, and pointed out that the support plan is based on the current status of houses, architectural objects, trees and crops of the households currently using and located in the residential land area, garden land adjacent to residential land but has been eroded and some households at high risk of erosion to be organized to declare, count and apply support prices.

Accordingly, the total compensation and support cost for 6 households is more than 4,162 billion VND. Of which, the direct compensation and support cost is more than 3.9 billion VND, including the compensation value for houses and auxiliary works of 2,087 billion VND; the compensation value for architectural works of more than 1,746 billion VND; the compensation value for crops of 16 million VND; support for moving houses within the commune of 18 million VND; support for renting houses of 36 million VND and the support price for leveling the ground of 180 million VND.

Ban Ang Hydropower Plant is built "right on top" of a residential area.

Then, on January 10, 2020, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee sent a document to Tuong Duong District People's Committee and Nam Mo - Nam Non Hydropower Joint Stock Company. In this document, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Ngoc Hoa requested Nam Mo - Nam Non Hydropower Joint Stock Company to coordinate with Tuong Duong District People's Committee and related organizations and individuals to agree on a plan and budget to relocate 6 households in Khe Kien village out of the landslide area and high-risk landslide area, ensuring the safety of people and property of the people. The implementation results must be reported to the Provincial People's Committee before February 15, 2020.

After receiving the above directive, on February 18, 2020, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district continued to report on the allocation of funds to relocate 6 households in Khe Kien village, Luu Kien commune as mentioned above to the People's Committee of Nghe An province as well as Nam Mo - Nam Non Hydropower Joint Stock Company. On the other hand, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district also requested Nam Mo - Nam Non Hydropower Joint Stock Company to allocate funds to pay for 6 households to relocate out of the landslide area and the area with high risk of landslides, ensuring the safety of people's lives and property to soon stabilize their lives in the short and long term. However, up to now, the investor of Ban Ang hydropower plant, Nam Mo - Nam Non Hydropower Joint Stock Company, has not yet taken any action.

“All procedures for on-site inspection, meetings, recommendations, reports, and plans for relocation and resettlement have been sent to superiors, as well as to the investor, Nam Mo - Nam Non Hydropower Joint Stock Company. However, up to now, I do not understand why the investor is still indifferent and has not fulfilled its obligations,” a leader of Luu Kien commune was upset. “Currently, the 2020 storm season is approaching. If the above households are not relocated and resettled soon, I am afraid that the property and lives of dozens of people will be seriously threatened,” he added.

According to the leader of this commune, during the inspection of the damage to people's houses, the hydropower plant did not even want to take full responsibility but blamed the cracks partly on vehicles traveling on National Highway 7.

Meanwhile, not far from Ban Ang Hydropower Plant, for many years, people in Xa Luong and Luong Minh communes have also suffered because of Nam Non Hydropower Plant. This hydropower plant also belongs to Nam Mo - Nam Non Hydropower Joint Stock Company. Since this hydropower plant came into operation, the water level has risen, and a series of houses upstream in Luong Minh commune have been swept away into the river. Many households have had to build temporary shacks along the roadside to survive.

Downstream of the hydroelectric dam, many households in Xa Luong commune also cannot sleep peacefully. It is not clear how and why, when this hydroelectric dam was built, only one household was relocated. Many other houses, some even 20m from the dam fence, were not relocated. Then, when the plant went into operation, a series of houses were swept away by the water. Although the hydroelectric plant's safety warning signs prohibit people from entering the hydroelectric area within 100m, people now have to live less than 20m from the dam, the walls of their houses are even close to the transformer station.

Not only affecting property, there was a time when the hydropower plant released water, causing people fishing at the foot of the dam to be swept away and die. After initiating a case and prosecuting the defendants related to this incident, Nghe An Police also investigated the construction process of the hydropower plant, including the construction items and project appraisal to determine "whose responsibility it is". "The Nam Non Hydropower Plant alone is less than 20 meters from people's houses, and the noise alone is unbearable for people. Therefore, we have to do this to hit the stick on all agencies and departments responsible for appraising and directing the construction of the hydropower plant", Major General Nguyen Huu Cau - Director of Nghe An Police said at the meeting of the Provincial People's Council in July 2019.