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DAM-L LS: VN Unveils Resettlement Plan for Son La (fwd)

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Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 10:33:15 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: LS: VN Unveils Resettlement Plan for Son La
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Vietnam Unveils Resettlement Plan for Son LA Hydro Plant Site

Asia Pulse ( August 21, 2001 )


       HANOI, Aug 21 Asia Pulse - The Vietnamese government plans to spend 
VND10 trillion (about US$660 million) on relocating evacuees from the site 
of the Son La Hydro-Power Plant.

       The funds, still to be approved by the National Assembly, will be 
spent on building resettlement areas and helping displaced people build a 
new life.

       Announcing the plan during a visit to the dam site last week, deputy 
Prime Minister Nguyen Cong Tan also urged Lai Chau provincial authorities 
and people to start resettling residents so as to finish relocation work by 
2005.

       An ad hoc resettlement steering committee should be set up 
immediately for a pilot project to relocate 200 households in the 
province's Si Pa Phin District, Tan told officials of the Lai Chau 
Provincial People's Committee.

       Experience drawn from the pilot project will help multiply such 
projects later on, ensuring that relocation work be completed by 2005 and 
construction of the plant can begin on time, he said.

       The Deputy PM also surveyed the regions of Dien Bien Dong, Si Pa 
Phin, Pa So and Binh Lu, where people will be displaced.

       Local authorities and people whose homes in Lai ChauTown, Muong Lay 
and Sin Ho districts will be destroyed by the construction of the dam 
informed Tan of their wishes and concerns about relocation.

       Chairman of the Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee, Quang Van 
Minh, presented two options for resettlement projects according to the 
scale of the dam to be constructed.

       The first one was for a 265m high dam that would submerge one 
township and five districts in Lai Chau, covering about 19,000ha of land, 
thousands of households, offices, schools, health clinics apart from 167km 
of inter-provincial and national roads. This would require the resettlement 
of 43,800 people.

       The other option was for a 215m high dam which would submerge one 
township and five districts, but displace only 23,200 people.

       Deputy PM Tan told the local administration that the Son La project 
was an opportunity for the north-western region in general and Lai Chau in 
particular to re-plan residential areas towards long-term and stable 
socio-economic development.

       Resettlement sites must be modelled on rural residential areas, 
ensuring better accommodation, production conditions and infrastructure 
than earlier for the displaced, he emphasised.

       Local authorities need to quickly plan the new resettlement areas, 
select occupations suitable to each area so that agricultural and 
industrial production complements the forestry and processing industry, he 
said.

       They should also start mobilising people right away to develop 
forestry, growing 1,000ha of pine forests each year to supply material to a 
paper mill to be built in the area.

       On the other hand, more investment will be poured into tea, pine and 
sugarcane planting and diary farming in new economic zones like Si Pa Phin, 
Cha Cang, Muong Toong and Muong Nhe, Tan said.

       The Son La plant will be located upriver from the major 
hydro-electric plant at Hoa Binh, which produces 1,920MW of power.

       Construction work on the plant has been delayed until 2004 due to 
financial reasons, and environmental and safety concerns.

       When the 3,600MW power plant is completed by 2016, it is expected to 
protect the region from flooding and help irrigate rice fields in the dry 
season, apart from adding to the stability and safety of the Hoa Binh plant.

       (VNA)


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