Khe Lai irrigation project: Risk of slow progress in overcoming floods
Ranked in the group of key irrigation projects that need to focus on accelerating flood-prevention progress. However, after nearly a year of construction, the project is still at a standstill.
Khe Lai reservoir project was built in Tan Thang commune, Quynh Luu district. In addition to providing irrigation water for 1,524 hectares of cultivated land (including 180 hectares of rice and 1,344 hectares of industrial crops), creating a source of domestic water for 11,700 people, it also added about 13.4 million m3 of water to Vuc Mau lake and participated in flood reduction for Hoang Mai river.
In particular, Khe Lai irrigation project is closely related to the security of additional water sources for Vuc Mau lake to supply water to Hoang Mai Industrial Park and Dong Hoi Industrial Park, which are under construction and attracting investment.
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Khe Lai headquarter project is under construction. |
Also for the above important reason, on June 11, 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development issued Decision 1609/QD-BNN-TL approving the first phase investment project of the Khe Lai-Vuc Mau irrigation system with a total investment of 227.8 billion VND, of which the cost of compensation for site clearance was up to 97.6 billion VND, accounting for nearly half of the total investment. However, after nearly 1 year of project implementation, all 4 bidding packages including the bidding package (bridge, management road, main dam, auxiliary dam and spillway) were 3 to 4 months behind schedule.
We were present at the construction site, at the end of April. Different from what we imagined, the construction site was quiet. At the main dam section, Yen Luc Trading Service Co., Ltd. only left 5 people to construct the water intake system.
Mr. Dang Ngoc Thu, Technical Manager of the construction site, said that in just a few days, the Company will withdraw all personnel and vehicles because 1/3 of the construction area of the culvert and main dam items have not yet been compensated for site clearance.
On the way from the Khe Lai bridge construction site to the foot of the main dam construction site, many vehicles had to be "covered" and wait a few months ago. In addition to Yen Luc Trading and Service Company Limited, Irrigation Construction Company 3, the winning contractor for the Khe Lai bridge construction, also temporarily stopped construction after pouring the beams of the bridge piers.
The most worrying thing is that the area of the main dam construction area due to the compensation agreement for trees and crops between the investor and the contractor with some households after a period of no construction, the households continue to plow and harrow for production. Therefore, the project will have to wait until the 2011 flood season is over to continue construction.
According to the leaders of Quynh Luu district, the problem with land clearance for the project is not because the people do not agree, but because the land owner, land origin, land type and allocation quota for each person cannot be determined. Tan Thang commune does not have land plot records, cadastral maps and land allocation records. Particularly, in Quynh Luu Youth Volunteer Force, it is not possible to determine whether the land user is a collective or an individual. The land is bought and sold without the approval of the government and the land is not used for the right purpose.
To solve this problem, on February 23, 2011, the Provincial People's Committee issued a Decision to establish a consulting team to support the site clearance of Khe Lai reservoir, with the task of supporting the Quynh Luu District People's Committee to solve problems in the site clearance work of this project. Accordingly, the Working Group reported problems in each item and proposed solutions.
Obviously, the problem in land acquisition and clearance for Khe Lai irrigation project is due to weaknesses in land management and administrative boundary management in the area. In addition, the lack of determination of the Land Acquisition and Clearance Council of Quynh Luu district and Tan Thang commune, along with unreasonable human resource allocation, are also the reasons for the slow progress of the project.
For example, there are no problems with the spillway and auxiliary dam items, but the site clearance has not been completed to hand over to the contractor for construction. Given the key nature of the project, in addition to the Provincial People's Committee promptly issuing a mechanism to handle problems and shortcomings within its authority, it is necessary to enhance the responsibility of relevant levels and sectors, especially Quynh Luu district and communes in the project area, so that the project can be implemented according to the set goals and schedule./.
Huu Nghia