Meaningful investment "meeting"

(Baonghean) - The North Nghe An Irrigation Project is currently the largest irrigation project in Nghe An province, with the task of supplying water for daily life and production for a large area in the North of the province. After 75 years of use, the project is seriously degraded. The project "Restoration and upgrading of the North Nghe An Irrigation System" implemented with ODA capital from the Japanese Government is opening up a new prospect for this important project.

The drainage system is also complete with the Vach Bac, Cam Bao canals and Dien Thanh drainage sluice... almost closing the irrigation system to irrigate and drain the entire key rice and color production areas of the province. After each historical period of the country, the transformation of the contract management mechanism in agricultural production, the Northern Irrigation system has effectively served the introduction of new varieties, the transformation of crop structure, and the strong and stable increase in the province's food output to exceed 1 million tons. Assessed from a professional perspective, this is an irrigation project that demonstrates a long-term vision in the initial construction design because of its high self-flowing capacity, minimizing investment costs. Therefore, upgrading the Northern Nghe An Irrigation project by applying new technology will continue to promote its function and efficiency...

Ba Ra Do Luong Dam - the key project of the Northern Nghe An Irrigation System.

According to the original design of the Northern Irrigation System, it ensures irrigation for 34,500 hectares of vast plains, fertile land, which is the province's large rice granary. However, in reality, after more than 7 decades of exploitation and use, the items, especially the main items, have been seriously degraded. Out of 12 compartments, 1 compartment has been damaged, the remaining compartments have been damaged in many ways, the mechanical equipment is rusty and of poor quality... therefore, the actual irrigation capacity of the system is only 19,636 hectares, a decrease of more than 14,000 hectares according to the design, which has directly affected the direction of crop production, ensuring food output of the whole region. In addition, in recent years, due to climate change and rising sea levels, droughts have become more severe, saltwater intrusion has become more severe, while the demand for water has increased, so the deterioration of the works has directly affected agricultural production as well as people's lives.

The need and urgency to invest in restoring and upgrading the project has been given special attention by the leaders of Nghe An province since 2009, when they started to mobilize the Government, ministries and central branches to pay attention to investing and put it on the list of ODA capital sources with the result: The Japanese wanted to replace the French to restore the irrigation capacity of the Northern Irrigation System. On May 6, 2010, the Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam returned to Nghe An, visited the project area and expressed his support, because he realized that this is a large project, which needs to be invested in to develop the economy, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty for the people, and bring into play great effects in serving domestic water, aquaculture, supplying water for Hoang Mai industrial park (including the Kobelco Steel Plant invested by Japan), flood control for the downstream area of ​​the project, and preventing climate change and rising sea levels.

Sand dredger on the main channel at K0+900.

Also due to the nature and importance of the project, as well as the significance of the investment cooperation relationship between Japan and Vietnam, in 2011, the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) continuously sent working delegations to work with the People's Committee of Nghe An province on investment in restoring and upgrading the Northern Irrigation System; the working process and field trips have consolidated data and led to the signing of a memorandum of agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Central Project Management Board, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Project Management Board. For the People's Committee of Nghe An province, because this is an important and urgent project, it is always interested in directing relevant departments, branches, and localities to actively coordinate to speed up the project preparation process, meeting the progress requirements of the Government and the sponsor.

The relentless efforts of the stakeholders have paid off when the project was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Decision No. 1929/QD-BNN-TCTL dated August 14, 2012 with a total investment of more than VND 5,705 billion, using Japanese ODA loans (funded by JICA), central and local counterpart funds. The main objective of the project is to increase irrigation capacity, ensure agricultural production, improve productivity, output, increase aquaculture capacity, increase production seasons; improve the rural transport network; increase flood drainage capacity for downstream areas, contributing to responding to climate change and rising sea levels. The investment objective is to restore and upgrade the entire system to ensure long-term safety of the project, stable irrigation for 27,656 hectares, including 21,459 hectares of rice, 6,160 hectares of crops of 4 districts Do Luong, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau and Quynh Luu; Providing domestic water for more than 950,000 people and nearly 1 million livestock; providing water for Hoang Mai and Dong Hoi industrial parks and other factories in the project area; contributing to draining water for 1,405 hectares of Yen Thanh - Dien Chau low-lying area, preventing salinity and keeping fresh water to create a water source for agriculture and daily life.

Thus, from the harmonious combination of timeless French design and ideas, now with the support of investment in new technology of superior class from the Japanese, the Northern Irrigation Project will certainly further promote its function and efficiency. With such a large and important project, the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An pay special attention to directing the implementation of strict investment steps, ensuring progress as committed, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thao - Director of the Project Management Board said: With the assigned task of managing and implementing Component 1 of the project, under the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Provincial Project Management Board always strives and actively coordinates with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Central Project Management Board to implement the project to ensure progress.

Article and photos:Huu Nghia