Prospects for two new ODA projects

(Baonghean) - The construction of a sluice to prevent saltwater intrusion on Hoang Mai River (in Hoang Mai Town) and Lam River (in Vinh City) has been planned by all levels and sectors in our province for a long time.To control salt water and improve the environment for production and daily life, ODA projects are currently being implemented smoothly.

With the support of ministries and branches, our province has implemented a project to prevent salinity, retain fresh water and improve the environment on Lam River from Japanese ODA loans (total investment capital of more than 4,190 billion VND). Currently, the consulting contractor has surveyed the terrain, geology and completed the basic project profile, and is waiting for the project appraisal teams of the sponsor to review and give comments to complete before submitting to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for approval.

Damming the Cam River to prevent salinity and retain fresh water for production.

Up to now, the Project of Preventing Salt Water, Keeping Fresh Water and Improving the Environment on Lam River using ODA loan from the Government of Japan (JICA4) has basically met the direction of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; the project's dossier preparation has been favorable, the construction plan has been selected to take into account the maximum limitation of land clearance effort, very few households have been relocated, mainly land is borrowed to serve the construction. However, the source of funding to hire consultants to prepare the project dossier is large while the source of funding is still difficult.

In Hoang Mai town, according to the measurement results of the Institute of Water Resources Planning from April 28 to May 12, 2002, the localities with the highest salinity at Quynh Phuong bridge are 17.1%, at Hoang Mai bridge is 12.5%, the salinity in Mai Hung and Quynh Di wards is 25%... To exploit fresh water sources for production and daily life, especially industrial zones in the area, the only way is to build a saltwater prevention sluice at the river mouth to supplement the water supply for this area with 9.5 million m3/year.

Dien Yen Clean Water Plant (Dien Chau) was built from ODA capital.

Through investment capital from the Korean EXIMBANK, Nghe An is implementing a project to invest in building a sluice to control salinity and improve the environment in the downstream of Hoang Mai River with a total investment of more than 694.3 billion VND. The scale of the project is a sluice to prevent salinity and retain fresh water (the sluice includes 2 water compartments), a boat lock, a traffic bridge, a downstream dyke, etc. To control salinity and improve the environment in the downstream of Hoang Mai River (at Quynh Di and Mai Hung, Hoang Mai Town), relevant authorities are implementing the project steps.

Hoang Vinh