BTO-According to the provincial People's Committee, Bien Lac Lake is unlikely to supply water to the northern area of Ham Thuan Nam district because of the distance of more than 70 km, many infrastructure works, unsuitable height and water reserves of the lake, only enough to supply Ham Tan district and La Gi town. In case of applying technological solutions such as transfer works and booster pumps, the investment cost is very large.
On the evening of September 8, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province issued a press release informing about Bien Lac Lake, Gia An Commune, Tanh Linh District, which is causing a stir in public opinion. Accordingly, at 9:00 p.m. on June 14, 2023, a TV channel posted a report: "Identifying waste: A multi-billion-dong irrigation lake abandoned in a thirsty land". After the above report was posted, there has been a lot of attention from press agencies and personal websites related to Bien Lac Lake.
Overview of Bien Lac Lake
The Provincial People's Committee said that Bien Lac Lake is a long-standing natural lake, connected to La Nga River through Loang Quang Stream. In the dry season, water from Bien Lac Lake flows into La Nga River; in the rainy season, water from La Nga River rises and flows into Bien Lac Lake. Bien Lac Lake has a basin area of about 205 km2 ; in the dry season, the flooded area corresponding to the lowest water level is about 436 ha; in the rainy season, the flooded area is about 1,659 ha corresponding to the highest flood level of +113.79 m (according to the 1994 flood level survey data, it is +113.7 m).
Bien Lac Lake is wide but not deep, with a large semi-flooded area of over 1,000 hectares; people in Duc Linh and Tanh Linh districts use the semi-flooded area for agricultural production such as growing rice in the dry season and using the lake bed for aquaculture and fishing. These activities have been the main source of income for people in Gia An commune for a long time. In particular, the annual aquaculture and fishing activities are organized by the Gia An Commune People's Committee to bid for aquaculture, fishing and exploitation. In the dry season, when the water recedes, the semi-flooded areas are built by people to build banks and produce agriculture, with an area of over 500 hectares (in the land use planning, these areas are planned as single-crop rice land).
In the semi-flooded area, there was previously a planned area of about 230 hectares for clay mining to produce bricks, tiles, and construction sand. Since 1983, people have started mining clay to serve the production of handmade bricks and tiles. From 1990 to present, this area has continued to be licensed to mine clay for 36 organizations, individuals, and cooperatives to serve brick and tile production facilities in Tanh Linh and Duc Linh districts.
In addition, illegal mining has occurred in the lake in the past; to handle this, in August 2023, the People's Committees of Tanh Linh and Duc Linh districts deployed handling and relocation of sand mining vehicles, not allowing anchoring in Bien Lac Lake.
Regarding construction investment
The provincial People's Committee said that the project invested in the Bien Lac Lake area is a traffic bridge combined with a flood control culvert on DT.720 road, Tanh Linh district, with the main task of ensuring traffic and flood control, in the direction of preventing floods from La Nga river from overflowing when the river water level rises. The total investment capital is nearly 10.5 billion VND, and was invested and completed in 2004. Since the project was completed and put into use, it has promoted good investment efficiency.
Regarding the investment orientation of Bien Lac irrigation reservoir: In Notice No. 554-TB/VPTU dated July 27, 2023, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee directed the Tanh Linh District Party Committee and Duc Linh District Party Committee to coordinate in organizing a survey, overall assessment, and unanimously propose to the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee for policies and orientations for planning and developing the Bien Lac reservoir area in the fourth quarter of 2023.
At the same time, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to coordinate with the People's Committees of Tanh Linh and Duc Linh districts to review the land area in the reservoir, propose a water storage plan to report to the Provincial People's Committee.
It is expected that after 2025, the site clearance and investment in Bien Lac irrigation reservoir, along with water transfer canal projects will be implemented to supply water to La Gi town and Ham Tan district in accordance with the irrigation development planning of the southern region of the province.
Regarding the posting of the sign "Bien Lac Lake Irrigation Project", the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province informed that according to the approval decisions, the project is named Traffic Bridge combined with flood control culvert on DT.720 road, Tanh Linh district. After the investment project was completed and put into use, the management unit, Binh Thuan Irrigation Project Exploitation One Member Co., Ltd., subjectively named the project "Bien Lac Lake Irrigation Project", which led to the misunderstanding that this was an irrigation lake project.
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