TPO – Instead of relocating 5 households (24 people) living at the foot of Van Ca Vai mountain to a resettlement area, which is both less costly and safer, Son Ha district (Quang Ngai province) spent tens of billions of dong to level the mountain and prevent landslides.
Spending 17 billion to prevent landslides for… 5 households
Van Ca Vai Mountain is 54m high, located in Lang Dau residential group (Di Lang town, Son Ha district, Quang Ngai province). At the foot of the mountain, there are 5 households with 24 people and DH77 road connecting the district center with Son Bao commune.
In early 2021, Van Ca Vai mountain suffered a landslide. In June 2021, Son Ha district invested 3 billion VND for emergency construction to prevent landslides. The project was completed in October 2022. However, in the rainy season of 2023, Van Ca Vai mountain continued to collapse, forcing 5 households living at the foot of the mountain to flee at night.
In 2024, Son Ha district will continue to invest an additional 14 billion VND to "cut mountains" and carry out emergency construction to prevent landslides. The funding will come from the central budget to support overcoming the consequences of natural disasters and landslides in 2023 in Quang Ngai province.
This is a group C project, a level IV technical infrastructure project. Accordingly, the slope will be covered to reduce the load on the top of the hill, a stone gabion wall will be built at the foot, and a water collection ditch will be made...
The project started on July 15 and is expected to be completed before October 31, 2024. However, as the project gradually took shape, conflicting opinions emerged. Many people said that the plan to level the mountain and cover it with concrete to prevent landslides would not be effective. On the other hand, spending a total of 17 billion VND to prevent landslides and protect 5 houses is not as effective as relocating people to resettlement areas.
Why not relocate 5 households…?
Mr. Le Hong Anh - Deputy Director of the Project Management Board for Investment, Construction and Land Fund Development of Son Ha District, representative of the project investor, informed that before implementing the project, the local government had considered a plan to relocate people to the resettlement area. However, after many meetings to collect opinions, some households did not agree to relocate.
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| Although Van Ca Vai mountain has been protected from landslides, some households at the foot of the mountain are still not assured, especially when the rainy and stormy season is approaching. |
Specifically, some households at the foot of the mountain refused to move to the resettlement area, but decided to stay and "move on their own and take responsibility" during the rainy season. The reason is that the resettlement area is only allocated 100m2 of land per household, while the area relocated due to landslides is not compensated for houses and land, and also because the current residence is close to the production land. In addition, on the top of the mountain there is currently a power pole belonging to the 110 kV line within the landslide treatment radius, but there are no measures to relocate it.
Because the people did not agree to relocate, Son Ha district implemented a plan to prevent landslides. According to the investor, this project not only protects 5 households but also prevents landslides that could cut off DH77 road located at the foot of the mountain. "DH77 road connects the center of Son Ha district with Son Bao commune, Nuoc Trong hydropower plant and an elementary school. If a landslide occurs, this road could be cut off," Mr. Anh shared.
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The slope is divided into 9 levels. |
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The ditches collect water from the top to the foot of the mountain. |
In June 2024, the leaders of the Department of Dykes and Natural Disaster Prevention (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) inspected the landslide site at Van Ca Vai mountain and stated that the design solution was not guaranteed, and the risk of landslide recurrence was very high. The leaders of the department also requested that the aforementioned electric pole be relocated to reinforce the landslide.
Recently, due to his lack of confidence, Vice Chairman of Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee Tran Phuoc Hien assigned the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to inspect and report on issues related to this urgent project.
Through many meetings, the People's Committee of Son Ha district reported and received the province's approval not to implement resettlement, only to reinforce against landslides on Van Ca Vai mountain. However, due to the complex terrain and geology here, it was impossible to find a design unit in Quang Ngai.
“There is no guarantee that landslides will not occur…”
Regarding the opinion that leveling mountains to prevent landslides is too risky, Mr. Anh said that this is the optimal solution. The investor invited experts and leading units in the field of foundations and construction works to support the survey and design plan.
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Workers are working. |
“We asked the Center for Research, Application and Foundation Engineering Consulting of Danang University of Technology to review the technical economic report and design drawings of the project,” Mr. Anh added.
According to the design plan, the construction unit will remove more than 40,000m3 of weakly bonded soil and rock on the surface. The slope is divided into 9 levels, with a system of water collection ditches on each level to prevent water from seeping directly onto the surface of the construction. Water will be collected on both sides of the slope and led down through the vertical drainage ditches.
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Houses of households at the foot of Van Ca Vai mountain. |
However, despite implementing two landslide prevention projects in Van Ca Vai with a total budget of 17 billion VND, the issue of ensuring people's safety in the coming time (when the second project is put into use) is still a matter of doubt, with no definite answer.
The investor also admitted that landslides are very complicated, so it is impossible to guarantee that no landslides will occur. However, stripping the surface soil and leveling the slope helps reduce the load, ensuring that the landslide frame is within a safe level. Therefore, if there is a landslide, it will be small in scale, ensuring the safety of houses and roads at the foot of the mountain.
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