General Department of Irrigation works with Nghe An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development

(Baonghean.vn) -On the morning of August 14, a working delegation from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development led by Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh - Deputy Director General of the General Department of Irrigation had a working session with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An on the issue of ensuring dam safety.

According to the report of Nghe An Irrigation Department, the province currently has 625 dams, the province with the largest number of dams in the country (accounting for 10% of the total number of dams in the country). However, most of the dams have been in use for 30-50 years, with little investment in maintenance during use, and are unsafe during the peak rainy season. Many parts such as construction works, earthen dams, water intakes, spillways, canal systems, etc. have shown signs of deterioration after decades of use and exploitation, no longer meeting the needs.

Meanwhile, decentralization of management also has shortcomings and overlaps, making upgrading, repairing, and assigning responsibilities difficult. In recent years, dam failures have occurred many times in small-capacity dams, mostly managed by local authorities (districts and communes), causing economic losses to the people.

Comrade Nguyen Van Tinh and officials of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development visited the construction site of Thach Tien dam (Hung Nguyen).

At the meeting, representatives of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An pointed out shortcomings in management work, such as the large number of dams but the terrain and traffic to the dams are divided; the lack of funds for on-site procurement of materials makes the work of flood prevention and control at dams very difficult. The operation at some dams is also done based on experience and intuition due to the lack of design documents and technical parameters... In addition, the encroachment on the safety corridor of dams is currently quite common, and the handling work has not been thoroughly done...

Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh - Deputy Director General of the General Department of Irrigation said that, in addition to doing a good job of decentralizing management, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An needs to effectively enforce the law on reservoir safety. This is also an issue that the Government is very concerned about. Currently, capital for construction works is scarce, localities need to be proactive with government bond capital and internal resources to ensure the safety of dams in the area. At the same time, doing a good job of perfecting the command board, being on duty seriously when incidents occur; selecting qualified survey, design and construction units; developing flood prevention and control plans at reservoirs, focusing on relocating people in downstream areas... Regarding some problems in decentralizing management, in the coming time, the General Department of Irrigation will have opinions and proposals for localities to decentralize management according to an open mechanism, creating favorable conditions in the process of operating, exploiting and using dams...

After the working session, the delegation of the General Department of Irrigation inspected the construction of Thach Tien dam in Hung Yen Nam commune, Hung Nguyen district.

Hoang Long