3 billion pumping station at risk of abandonment in Quynh Luu

According to the reporter's investigation, hamlets 9, 11 and 12, Quynh Tan commune (Quynh Luu) are short of water for daily use and agricultural irrigation. Local people said that only in the rainy season does this area have enough water for daily use, in other seasons the whole village is short of water, the need for water for daily use and irrigation of fields has been a long-standing desire of the people.

Therefore, the Con Chuyen pumping station was invested in construction, with main items including 1 station house with 2 pumps; 140m of iron pipes leading water from the pumping station to the canal; 2km of canals to the hamlets... The total construction investment was more than 3 billion VND, in which the people of the hamlets who benefited had to contribute 300 million VND. In 2010, the project to build a pumping station at Con Chuyen (hamlet 12, Quynh Tan commune) was started.

However, after nearly 8 years since the start of construction, it has not yet been put into operation, some items have been damaged and degraded... Meanwhile, according to the investor, the People's Committee of Quynh Tan Commune (Quynh Luu), the commune has transferred almost all of the investment money to the contractor. This project is invested by Quynh Tan Commune; Van Son Construction Joint Stock Company is the contractor.

Con Chuyen pumping station in hamlet 12, Quynh Tan commune (Quynh Luu) after nearly 8 years of construction still cannot operate. Photo: Thao Nguyen

In early April 2018, when we arrived at Con Chuyen pumping station, we saw that this pumping station was built next to the canal leading water from Vuc Mau lake downstream; the station house was built of concrete, covered with corrugated iron, and had not been painted around; the iron pipes leading water to the canal system were rusted; many sections of the canal were damaged and degraded.

The irrigation canal system in the Con Chuyen pumping station project has degraded in many places. Photo: Thao Nguyen

Mr. Le Tien Thua, who lives next to the Con Chuyen pumping station, said that when the pump was installed, the water only rose for a while and then dropped, while the machine still ran. Recently, people tried pumping again, but it only lasted a few hours, then the water dropped again like the last time, and it could not pump for long. People here need water, many households have contributed money with the State to build a pumping station to get water for daily use and irrigation, but the pumping station still does not work, which is a waste.

Through discussion, Mr. Nguyen Canh Te - Head of Hamlet 12, Quynh Tan Commune said: Before starting the construction of Con Chuyen pumping station, 172 households benefiting from Hamlets 9, 12 and 13 agreed to contribute 300 million VND (of which, households taking water directly from the canal paid 2.2 million VND; other households having to use pumps to draw water into their houses paid 1.1 million VND; households on the main road with canals passing through paid 800,000 VND). However, after that, only 91 households contributed 194 million VND, the remaining 81 households did not have the conditions, so they asked to contribute gradually.

In order for the project to be completed on schedule, Mr. Te himself took out a loan from the bank to help households pay the remaining amount (137 million VND) for the project. "Now the project is unfinished, people have no water to use, people are no longer paying, the principal of 137 million now includes interest up to 320 million, I have become a "debtor", Mr. Te was upset.

On the local side, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Chinh - Secretary of the Quynh Tan Commune Party Committee said: The Con Chuyen pumping station project was started in 2008, initially the project was approved for 1.8 billion VND, of which the people contributed 600 million VND, the State poured in 1.2 billion VND. However, the project was later re-approved, increasing the project investment capital, the people only contributed 300 million VND.

The contractor set a condition that if the people contributed the above amount as soon as possible, the contractor would complete the project within the year. After that, the households with economic conditions would pay immediately, the households without conditions would pay gradually, so the hamlet agreed to borrow money from the bank to pay for the households that were in arrears, and collect it later. However, the contractor did it in a procrastinating manner, while the State capital had paid the contractor nearly 100% of the investment capital.

Mr. Chinh affirmed that this is a project that the local officials and people are looking forward to. Many times the commune has directed that there must be a solution to quickly complete the project and put it into use, but it has not been completed yet. Many times the contractor (Van Son Construction Joint Stock Company) has been called to work but they have not shown up.

According to Mr. Chinh, among the project items that are still lacking, the most important is the lack of 1 pump (designed for 2 pumps, now only 1), so the pumped water is unstable...

Faced with the above reality, Quynh Luu district needs to inspect the incident and clarify the contractor's responsibility, especially the project investor who approved payments to the contractor exceeding the construction volume.