Violation of power grid safety corridor in Quynh Luu

(Baonghean) - Quynh Luu district has 160 households from Quynh Thach and Quynh Van communes building houses right under the 10KV medium voltage grid safety corridor. It is worth mentioning that these households have been granted red books by the local government that overlap the land that had previously marked the boundary for the grid safety corridor. There are sections of power lines that sag low down to the corrugated iron roof, such as at the house of Ms. Tran Thi Lien in Hamlet 9, Quynh Thach commune... People living under this grid safety corridor have also reported many unsafe phenomena that affect their lives, especially when it rains and there are electrical short circuits...

To ensure the safety corridor of the power grid depending on each specific time point, the Government has issued many decrees such as Decree No. 54, Decree No. 70, Decree 106, Decree 81 and most recently Decree 14/2014/ND-CP dated April 15, 2014 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Electricity Law on power grid safety. According to this decree, the minimum distance from the power line to the nearest point of equipment, tools, and means of work in the safety corridor of the medium-high voltage power line from 10 - 22 KV is 4m and the distance between the power line and trees is 3m if it is bare wire. Violating this distance can lead to incidents such as electric discharge and short circuit.

In hamlets 8 and 9 of Quynh Thach commune, there are 129 households building houses right under the safety corridor of the 10KV medium voltage power grid; of which 54 households are directly affected, the power line runs from 0.5 - 1m above the house, there are houses with the power line close to the second floor window, from 20 - 30cm away. Mr. Hoang Dinh Khoa - Vice Chairman of Quynh Thach Commune People's Committee said: "This power line was built in 1991, 1992; and the residential land was granted by the State in 1993, 1994. The data of the land boundary of the traffic safety corridor before was 13.5m, but later according to the new regulations it was 27m, and so even though the households built houses after the power line was installed, they still had to build overlapping on the power grid safety corridor". Similarly, in Quynh Van commune, there are currently 31 households building houses overlapping the safety corridor of the 10KV medium voltage power line in hamlets 6, 7 and 8. Mr. Le Don Thuoc - one of the households building houses violating the safety corridor of the power line in hamlet 7, Quynh Van commune said: "In front of the house is the traffic safety corridor, above the house is the high voltage power line. Knowing that it is dangerous and can affect life, we still have to build a house to live in". The issuance of red books for people building houses in Quynh Van was also carried out after the safety corridor of the power line was established (the power line was also built from 1991 - 1992 and the issuance of red books for people was carried out from 1993 - 1999).

From the above reality, the first mistake belongs to the local authorities at that time who did not check and survey, leading to the issuance of overlapping land use rights on the land reserved for the power grid safety corridor. That mistake has continued when, for many years now, the authorities of the two communes of Quynh Thach and Quynh Van, despite knowing about this situation, have not taken any measures to prevent it, and even deliberately ignored it when households deliberately violated the construction of houses right under the power grid safety corridor. Mr. Dang Ngoc Binh - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district, said: "This is a problem that belongs to the responsibility of the two communes of Quynh Thach and Quynh Van. The People's Committee of the district has directed the two communes and the Department of Industry and Trade to inspect and review households that build houses in dangerous locations directly from the power lines in order to have a solution." Mr. Nguyen Phuc Quy - Director of Quynh Luu Electricity Branch added: "The Electricity Industry has notified and warned the households that built the houses and asked them to dismantle the violating parts. At the same time, it has reported to the local authorities at the commune and district levels and Nghe An Electricity to find a solution to dismantle."

Up to now, the government and authorities have not yet responded. 160 households in the two communes above are still living in fear and anxiety, especially when the rainy and stormy season is approaching!

Le Nhung

Quynh Luu Radio and Television Station