Nam Dan culvert project worth over 536 billion VND continues to be behind schedule

(Baonghean.vn) - According to the commitment, by the end of 2015, the Nam Dan sluice upgrade and expansion project will be completed and put into use. However, up to now, the project is still unfinished while the flood season is approaching.

The project to upgrade and expand Nam Dan sluice and canal system, phase 1 of the construction of a new Nam Dan sluice was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Decision No. 400/QD/BNN-XD dated February 22, 2010 with a total investment of VND 536,712 billion. After completion, this project will provide irrigation water for 20,000 hectares of downstream areas in 5 districts and cities: Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc, Cua Lo Town, Vinh City. Therefore, the project is of great interest to Nghe An province as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The project is invested by Nam Nghe An Irrigation One Member Co., Ltd. and is divided into 7 packages, including: Package No. 1 Nam Dan sluice and boat lock; Package No. 2 construction of traffic bridge over the canal on National Highway 46; Package No. 3 construction of construction road and downstream channel; Package No. 4 construction of management house and management road; Package No. 5 supply and installation of mechanical equipment; Package No. 6 construction of transformer and high voltage line; Package No. 7 construction of new pumping station and pumping station equipment.

One of the canal sections under unfinished dredging. Photo: Van Truong.

However, after a period of project implementation, some incompetent contractors had to transfer the work volume to the contractor, Hoa Hiep Company Limited, to continue construction. Up to now, after nearly 5 years of implementation, in addition to some completed packages, the most important package is the water channel downstream connecting to Dao River, which is under construction and waiting for capital.

Mr. Cao Danh Phu - Deputy Director of Nam Nghe An Irrigation Company Limited discussed the reasons for the project's delay: "During the project implementation, due to the documents having to be adjusted many times, the construction on complex geology, the important package of the downstream channel with a length of more than 2 km was delayed. In the channel area where the mud is "pocketed", it was necessary to implement changes in the plans, which took a lot of time, such as having to drive concrete piles, use anchor ropes between the two rows of piles and then pour sand down to fix them. Not to mention, due to material price fluctuations, this project has increased its capital by more than 100 billion VND, and currently the capital allocated for the project has run out."

Currently, the project is dredging the canal but in a "moderate" manner, the volume is "drop by drop", while according to the design, the volume of the canal dredging is still over 50,000 m3 of waste mud. The difficulty now is that in the process of compensation for land clearance and site clearance, there is no dumping site to contain the huge amount of mud, currently cars are still having to dump mud at small locations.

Due to the lack of a landfill, the sludge is being temporarily dumped along the shore. Photo: Van Truong

The unfinished canal and lack of water supply to the downstream have made it impossible to put the project into use, which has greatly affected agricultural production as well as the water supply for people in 5 districts and towns in the southern region of Nghe An province: Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc, Cua Lo Town and Vinh City when the dry season begins to have complicated developments. Not to mention the rainy and stormy season is approaching.

Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue worked in Nam Dan district on February 27, 2017 and also commented: "Regarding financial support for the completion of Ba Ra Nam Dan 2 sluice to serve agricultural production, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was assigned to coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to study and handle support for the district."

To overcome the above difficulties and promote the effectiveness of the project, relevant levels and sectors need to coordinate to implement the project synchronously and resolutely, first of all, do a good job of site clearance; complete documents and adjust the total investment; focus on quickly implementing the canal clearance package before the rainy season.

Van Truong