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Options and Concerns Industry Minister Dang Vu Chu last week introduced to the National Assembly three designs that have been formulated for the Son La Power Plant. Two of these, which basically will have the dam built at a height of either 265m or 215m were debated by the deputies. The minister informed the NA session that the higher dam will cut 20 per cent of the production cost to VND379 per kWh from the VND476 per kWh that the lower design will entail. The higher dam will also create a large reservoir of 21.8 billion cu.m which can prevent floods and protect the downstream Hoa Binh Plant. It will also meet the demand of 15.2 billion cu.m of water for irrigation by 2040. The reservoir formed by the 215m-high dam will not be able contain the 10 billion cu.m of water and resist the 500 or 1,000-year cyclical floods, or provide enough water for the lower reaches in the dry seasons. However, the higher dam would require a colossal investment, from VND2,000 billion to VND7,000 billion a year during the initial period. It will also cause more environmental destruction than the lower dam by swamping almost 45,000ha of land instead of 27,000ha. NA delegates expressed their concern about the safety of the dam and the relocation and settlement of households from the project site. Many said they were confused about the report of NA Commission for Defence and Security on the safety and relocation plans. Ly Khai Pha, a Lai Chau delegate, said that safety should be given priority and suggested the Government should chose the "low" design. Son La delegate Tong Thi Phong said the Government should preserve historical artefacts in the project site by moving them or recording them on film. The NA delegates also felt that the adequate preparation had not gone into planning the relocation and settlement of about 100,000 people displaced by the higher dam. — VNS

Work on largest hydro-power plant may start in 2004

HA NOI — Work on the country’s biggest hydro-power plant in the northern mountainous province of Son La, dogged by prolonged debate on its feasibility, could begin in 2004.

Director of the Pre-investment Management Board (PIMB) for the plant, Vu Duc Thin, told Viet Nam News that the project, which would have been built this year, has been delayed for a further three years due to technical and capital problems.

Thin said that despite the Government’s approval of the project’s feasibility study in 1998, the huge capital requirement and arguments about its technical design had time and again delayed construction.

Given its scale and importance, the National Assembly has devoted many working sessions to the Son La Dam, and Thin feels that the benefits that will accrue from it have made the authorities determined to go ahead with the project.

Industry Minister Dang Vu Chu was given a NA hearing last week to introduce the three options of building the project.

The NA Committee for Science, Technology and Environment has asked the Government to perfect the project’s methodology and secure more data to ensure the reliance of the feasibility study report.

The committee also emphasised that relocation and settlement of households from the plant site was the most important task of the project.

The Son La power plant, which will be built on the Da River, will have a production capacity of 3,600MW when it is completed by 2016.

It will be located upriver from the major hydro-electric plant at Hoa Binh which produces 1,920MW.

The plant will have 10 generators each with a capacity of 360 MW. It will provide between 9 and 16 billion kWh per year, meeting the national demand for electricity by the time it is completed.

It is estimated that the plant will help save about eight million tonnes of coal or four billion cu.m of gas a year.

Multi-purpose project

The project is also slated to provide protection from flooding, supply water to lowlands during the dry season, facilitate development of marine transport, promote tourism and contribute to economic restructuring in the north-western region.

Thin said that the hydro-electric project includes a discharge structure capable of releasing an average of 15,000cu.m per second, which will considerably reduce the level of flooding in the Hong (Red) and Thai Binh deltas during the rainy season.

It is reported that presently the flow of water in the Da River accounts for 40 to 78 per cent of the flooding level in these regions.

In the dry season, the Son La reservoir will also help supply water to areas in the lower reaches of the Da River.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, these areas will witness an estimated 15 billion cu.m shortage of water by 2020, and this will rise by another 5 billion cu.m by 2040.

Thin revealed that the project needs a total investment of VND55,700 billion (about US$4 billion), of which 70 per cent will be raised from domestic sources and the remaining through foreign loans.

The most advanced technology will be used to construct the dam to ensure safety, he said.

The 135-137m high dam will be able to withstand the worst of conditions including erosion, flooding and earthquakes, say experts from the Harza and Sweco companies which have contributed to the project’s feasibility study and conducted research on the series of earthquakes in neighbouring Lai Chau Province.

Thin said that a sixth of the project’s investment will be spend on moving and relocating almost 27,000 households from the project site. Each household will receive about $2,700.

It is expected that NA delegates will take a final decision on the project design by the end of this year. — VNS

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