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dam-l LS: Son La in Vietnam in jeopardy: minister

Biggest Vietnam power project in jeopardy: minister 

( May 10, 2000 ) 


Hanoi (dpa) - Vietnam's largest planned power plant is in jeopardy and may
not win final approval by the country's leaders, who cast serious doubt on
the project in Wednesday's state media.
   
      In the most senior public criticism of the 3,600-megawatt Son La
hydroelectric plant, Planning and Investment Minister Tran Xuan Gia told a
National Assembly session that feasibility problems looked set to doom the
deal, the Saigon Times Daily reported.   

      Gia, in a blunt assessment of the plan in the works for over a
decade, said safety issues such as geological instability of the site, in
Vietnam's rugged northwest, had not been properly addressed.
     
      Other key factors include a lack of sources to raise the estimated
5.1 billion dollars needed for the project, as well as the relocation and
resettlement of thousands of locals.

      Some 70,000 to 100,000 people, mostly ethnic minorities, would have
to be removed from the Da River valley to make way for an extensive
reservoir with a capacity of 25 billion cubic meters.

            "There are so many problems spread out on paper now, it's hard
to say which is the biggest," said Nguyen Van Minh deputy head of the
feasibility study department in the Planning and Investment Ministry.      

      Such issues have conspired to derail the deal, according to an
officer in the Department of Planning and Investment of Son La Province,
170 kilometres west of Hanoi.
      
      "There has been no movement on the project, absolutely nothing," said
the officer, who declined to identify himself.

      The statements also come amid revelations by experts that the final
go-ahead for the plant may not be forthcoming.     

      "The Vietnamese are privately saying it's not going to be signed,"
said one executive in Hanoi who spoke on condition of anonymity.    

      The 3,600-MW plant, nearly twice the size of Vietnam's largest
existing hydropower project, the Hoa Binh dam, was labeled a national
priority in the mid-1990s by then-Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet.

      But current Premier Phan Van Khai looks set to cancel that status,
the executive said. "He is not going to implement this anytime soon."      

      Hanoi's communist leadership is under growing pressure to either
approve the deal or look for alternative solutions to Vietnam's growing
energy needs, sources said.      

      Vietnam's annual power production stands at 22 billion kilowatt
hours. National demand is expected to far outstrip such figures in the next
decade, and Son La's first turbines would not be brought into operation
until 2015, the newspaper reported.      

      "Now there is a fight between supporters of Son La and environmental
protection people concerning whether or not hydro power is absolutely
necessary," said K. Thanh Bui, a senior advisor to the government and the
private sector.      

      "The debate is not closed," Bui added.      

      About 80 per cent of Vietnam's energy comes from hydro power.
Vietnam's second largest hydro plant, the 720-megawatt station at Yaly,
hooked up to the national grid last month.     

      Officials have said the fate of Son La may be decided during the
ongoing session of the National Assembly, which wraps up in June.

      dpa 



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Aviva Imhof
South-East Asia Campaigner
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley CA 94703 USA
Tel: + 1 510 848 1155 (ext. 312), Fax: + 1 510 848 1008
Email: aviva@irn.org, Web: http://www.irn.org
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