Living insecurely in the heart of the project

Not being able to leave, staying is difficult, lacking in every way. That is the situation of more than 100 households in Thanh Son village, Thanh Hoa commune, Nhu Xuan district (Thanh Hoa) for nearly 15 years since the Ban Mong Hydropower Reservoir Project ( Nghe An ) was put into implementation.

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The Ban Mong irrigation reservoir project was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2009 using government bond capital, with a total investment of VND5,318 billion after many adjustments. The project is built on the upper reaches of the Hieu River in Yen Hop Commune, Quy Hop District, Nghe An Province. The reservoir is 25 km2 wide, mainly located in Quy Chau District (Nghe An) and partly in Nhu Xuan District (Thanh Hoa).

This is the largest multi-purpose project in Nghe An, with a capacity of 225 million m3 of water. The lake provides water for industrial production, people's lives, and serves irrigation of agricultural land for 18,871 hectares of crops in Quy Hop, Nghia Dan, Tan Ky districts, Thai Hoa town and 3 communes of Anh Son district; supplies water to Ca river in the dry season, reduces floods in the rainy season for the downstream of Hieu river, and combines power generation with a capacity of 45MW, as well as tourism development. Up to now, the project has basically completed the construction items, only waiting for the clearance of the lake bed to block the flow, store water, and promote the effectiveness of the project.

A corner of Thanh Son village seen from above

The project is located in Nghe An but directly affects the lives of 119 households with 430 people in Thanh Son village, Thanh Hoa commune, Nhu Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province. Because, when the project accumulates water to an elevation of +78.9m, the entire Thanh Son village with an area of 702.6 hectares including houses, fields, gardens, agricultural land... will be submerged in water, forcing relocation and resettlement.

However, after nearly 15 years of implementing the Ban Mong Irrigation Reservoir Project, 119 households in Thanh Son village still cannot settle down, cannot leave, and if they stay, their lives face many difficulties due to lack of roads, community facilities, social welfare, etc.

Mr. Ha Van Gioi, Head of Thanh Son village, said: “From the commune center to the village, there is only one road, more than 20km long, of which the dirt road leading to the village is often damaged. The whole village has 7 overflowing streams, which the local budget has not invested in building solidly due to the Ban Mong irrigation reservoir project. To have a road, we have made temporary bridges out of bamboo and planks, but each time there is a flood, they are washed away by water or after a while they break down and are very unsafe, the village is often isolated from the outside. There have been cases of people dying while crossing the stream due to unsafe conditions. Also because the road is long and difficult to travel, secondary school students have to stay at boarding schools, and on days off during floods, they have to go home. Preschool and primary school students study in the village, but the schools are also degraded because of lack of investment and renovation. There are no grassroots medical staff in the village, so when people suddenly get sick, they sometimes have to make rafts to cross the river. stream to the commune and district health center for treatment.

Thanh Son village has over 95% of the population being Thai, nearly half of the households are poor or near-poor, the economy mainly depends on a few rice fields, growing a few short-term crops. People are not without the will to escape poverty and become rich, but many families want to change crops, apply science and technology to production to escape poverty but do not dare to do so, they are afraid that after investing, they will have to move to a new place to live..." - Mr. Gioi shared.

The road across the stream in Thanh Son village is paved with planks.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Tuat, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Nhu Xuan district, said: “Thanh Son village is a particularly difficult village of the district, and people also really want to move to a new resettlement area soon to stabilize their lives, develop the economy and escape poverty. In the old place, even if the provincial and district budgets are available, they cannot invest because they do not know specifically when the resettlement project will be implemented. If the investment is built but only used for a short time, people will have to relocate, which will be a waste. People and local authorities have repeatedly petitioned the province, the Central Government or at meetings with voters and National Assembly deputies with the hope of being relocated to a resettlement area soon and stabilizing their lives…”- Mr. Tuat said.

Thanh Son village cultural house is degraded

Faced with the above situation, on October 31, a working delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) led by Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep worked with the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province to remove difficulties and obstacles in implementing the Ban Mong Reservoir Project on the implementation of the compensation, support and resettlement component in Nhu Xuan district under the Ban Mong Reservoir Project phase 1 and investment projects using capital from the MARD in the medium-term public investment capital plan for 2021-2025.

The report at the working session showed that the project in Thanh Hoa province has a compensation, support and resettlement component in Nhu Xuan district, which was added by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to the Ban Mong reservoir project, Nghe An province in Decision No. 2464/QD-BNN-XD, dated June 27, 2019.

Regarding the scale of the component: The project will invest in the construction of a resettlement area for 119 households with 430 people in Thanh Son village, support and compensate for land, trees, crops, and structures affected in the reservoir area and resettlement area; and carry out reforestation work for 586.45 hectares. Regarding the budget, the total investment of the component is expected to be more than 516.7 billion VND, including 3 main work contents: Compensation and support at the departure and destination places; investment in resettlement construction and reforestation.

Rice fields were washed away by floodwaters and rocks invaded.

However, the project is facing some difficulties and obstacles, such as: Regarding replacement forestation, Thanh Hoa province currently does not have enough land to plant more than 1,651 hectares of replacement forest for the area of 586.45 hectares of forest in the flooded area of the reservoir (the departure point) which has been approved by the National Assembly in principle for changing the purpose in Resolution No. 135/2020/NQ14, dated November 17, 2020. On the other hand, the entire 586.45 hectares of forest in the reservoir area, if not planned as irrigation land, do not meet the conditions for changing the purpose of forest use to implement the project according to the provisions of Article 19 of the Forestry Law 2017.

Regarding support, compensation and resettlement, with only 2 years left, it is difficult to complete the work of the component. In addition, up to now, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has not advised the Prime Minister to consider and approve the adjustment and supplementation of land use indicators as proposed by the Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee. Therefore, there is no basis to adjust and supplement irrigation land indicators to implement the project.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep also requested Thanh Hoa province to continue to balance the area for resettlement as well as the area to block the stream to expand the reservoir according to the design, and soon complete the procedures to sign the agreement to balance the area for the project. After completing the required items, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has a plan to report to the Government to return the area according to regulations. Accordingly, Thanh Hoa province will balance an area of about 200 hectares before November 15, 2023 to block the stream to implement the project.

QUACH TUAN

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