Difficulty in finding land to build Loc Dai lake

The irrigation canal project of Loc Dai Lake will continue to be completed. Photo: TRINH DUNG

High capital, low utilization

The investment plan for the Loc Dai reservoir project from 2018 to 2020 cannot be completed. This is a project that has been behind schedule for nearly 7 years and still cannot be completed.

Mr. Tran Xuan Vinh - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council once complained that the same mechanisms and policies, a lot of capital allocated to projects, but weak disbursement or no land, inexperienced contractors or too many and complicated procedures and processes for granting mining licenses... without any lessons learned is unacceptable.

Quang Nam Inspectorate has published a report (No. 235/BC-TTT dated October 25, 2024) on the results of the survey and inspection of the implementation of this project. According to the report, the total land area recovered for the project is 66.91 hectares. The headworks (spillway, flood discharge) have been handed over 100% to the investor (24.84 hectares), the reservoir area has been handed over 28.5/34.98 hectares and the irrigation canal has been handed over 5.05/7.09 hectares.

The central budget has provided 100% of the capital (VND 160.6 billion), but only VND 124.1 billion has been disbursed. The remaining amount (VND 36.5 billion) was recovered by the State Audit, returning VND 14.9 billion to the budget and returning VND 21.6 billion to the central budget. The 2020 capital plan was extended because the project stopped construction. The provincial budget has so far disbursed VND 62.9/67.9 billion.

According to the construction bidding documents, the selected contractor consortium is Irrigation Construction Joint Stock Company 1 - Phu Hoa Construction Joint Stock Company and Toan Thinh Construction and Engineering Joint Stock Company (now Nhan An Trading and Production Company Limited), starting the project on July 1, 2019.

The construction progress of the earth dam is 14 months (from August 2019 to September 2020). However, the construction project is 4-5 months behind schedule (November 15, 2019) and has been suspended since the end of 2022 until now.

One thing worth noting is that the total allocated capital is large, but the total value of completed construction volume to date is about 58.9/185.95 billion VND. Only reaching about 31.6% of the contract value for the completion of the flood spillway, post-spillway discharge channel, bridge over the canal, water intake culvert, power supply and 50/5.3km of the main canal, 3 culverts across the road, 3 pillars of the No. 2 aqueduct.

The main dam, which is mainly constructed with earth fill (volume of about ^630,000m3 ), has only completed organic excavation, tray foundation excavation, and filter layer construction (23.32% of the items).

Construction needs to continue

According to statistics, the total acceptance value of the project is only nearly 58.7 billion VND, but the total payment value to the contractor (including advances) is nearly 125 billion VND.

The investor is inviting consultants to carefully evaluate the reserves and physical quality of the two mines expected to be exploited to get soil to build a dam and complete the project. Photo: TRINH DUNG

The current balance of the construction contract advances of the three remaining members of the consortium is approximately 69.3 billion VND. The project has been stopped for more than two years now, but no one has calculated whether this balance of advances can be recovered or not?

According to the Provincial Inspectorate, the project is technically complex. The investor has no experience in managing irrigation works, and only assigned one bridge and road engineer to be in charge of project management. There are no specialized staff in irrigation construction, so the project management and quality management according to the specialized field are not in accordance with regulations.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Ho Quang Buu said the project is being inspected and the results will be announced soon. However, the public is most concerned about whether the project can be easily resumed so that people have water for irrigation and hundreds of billions of dong of budget capital that have been poured out must receive the effectiveness of the project and cannot be wasted.

The investor asserted that if the quarry was available, the project would certainly be completed on schedule, which had been extended. However, according to the Quang Nam Inspectorate, the Nong Troc mine (Que Hiep), which was expected to be put into operation for dam construction in July 2024 as reported by the investor, could not be implemented. And the Ho Thac mine (Que Long), which was expected to be put into operation for dam construction from July 2025, will it come true?

Notably, through checking the documents, the actual situation at the construction site and reports from related units, it is shown that the project still has many difficulties, problems and errors. The delay in the project's progress is caused by personnel, site clearance, project management, planning, permission to exploit soil mines for dam construction...

The important thing is to find a quarry to build a dam, but is it of sufficient quality to be used for irrigation projects? According to the Quang Nam Inspectorate, the soil at the two Nong Troc and Ho Thac mines has not yet been surveyed and evaluated by the design consultant to be qualified for dam construction, leading to the inability to develop a dam cross-section design plan, as well as the inability to organize the application for an exploitation license for these two mines.

Unable to complete the project within the extended deadline (until December 2025), the Provincial Inspectorate has recommended that the Provincial People's Committee agree to extend the project completion deadline until the end of December 2026.

Specific requirements by July 2025 must complete all procedures on land quarrying and land exploitation to serve dam construction, approve the adjusted dam design plan, complete site clearance work, and re-inspect completed project items before re-organizing construction.

By the end of September 2026, the main dam of the lake must be completed and by the end of December 2026, the entire project must be completed, accepted and put into use.

Mr. Tran Duy Phuc - Deputy Director of the Provincial Construction Investment Project Management Board (investor) said that the irrigation project requires very difficult soil physical criteria, requiring low permeability. Preliminary assessment shows that the quality and reserves of the two mines are satisfactory, enough to build a dam.

As for the design consultant confirming whether the physical and mechanical criteria are met or not, the investor is waiting for the opinion of the Provincial People's Committee to allow the project to be supplemented with a geological bidding package to select a consultant to conduct an assessment survey and have an official opinion. Once there is land, the dam body will be immediately re-constructed, ensuring the project's investment schedule.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/gian-nan-tim-dat-dap-ho-loc-dai-3153401.html