The Ministry of Industry and Trade should halt the construction of hydropower plants in the Central Highlands until the end of next year pending review of their possible impacts on the environment and life of people, the Central Highlands Steering Committee has said. The board suggested the suspension after it, the ministry, the Electricity Group of Vietnam (EVN) and the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Inspection inspected seven hydropower plants in the Central Highlands, including Dong Nai 3 (Dak Nong Province), Serepok 4A (Dak Lak Province), An Khe-Ka Nak (Gia Lai Province), Thuong Kon Tum, Dak D’rinh (Kon Tum Province), Dak Mi 4 and Song Tranh 2 (Quang Nam Province). The ministry should halt the building of hydro plants from now until the end of 2014 so that concerned agencies have time to resolve social problems caused by hydro projects and re-assess possible negative impacts of all planned projects to cancel those that have been proven as unfeasible or ineffective, said Tran Viet Hung, deputy head of the Steering Board. To date, the Prime Minister, the ministry and EVN have licensed 485 hydro projects with total capacity of nearly 10,000 MW in the region. Of these, 118 have been completed and 75 are under construction. Hydro projects in the region have so far occupied nearly 80,000 hectares of land and nearly 16,000 households have had to be relocated. Commenting on the impacts of hydro projects on the social and economic development of the region, the board said they have caused unfriendly effects to the environment, undermined the ecological balance, flooded many land and forest areas, made changes to river water currents, and caused harmful impacts to the flora and fauna systems. There lacks coordination between a number of hydropower plants and concerned agencies in the operation of reservoirs, leading to a shortage of water in dry seasons and flooding in rainy seasons, causing damage to agricultural production and difficulties to the life of local people. Hydropower projects have made adverse changes to the traditional practice of production and living conditions of many communities of ethnic minority people. In some hydro projects, inadequate compensation to relocated residents resulted in prolonged complaints, affecting social order and security. In addition, many hydro projects have indirectly contributed to the deforestation. At a conference held by the Steering Board in Da Lat on July 22, Ha Ban, Secretary of the Party Committee of Kon Tum Province reported that local authorities have cancelled many small and medium-sized hydro projects that had been evaluated as unfeasible or inefficient. At a recent meeting with a working team of the Government, Lam Dong Province People’s Committee chairman Nguyen Xuan Tien reported that the local authorities have abolished 28 projects under their jurisdiction and proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade cancel 23 others that fall under the ministry’s management. Similarly, Dak Lak Province authorities have cancelled 20 hydro projects while Gia Lai Province has put an end to the operation of eight small and medium- sized projects and eliminated 11 others. The Central Highlands contains five inland provinces: Lam Dong, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, and Lam Dong.
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