VietNamNet Bridge – Project owners must be responsible for the insecurity of hydropower dams but local authorities are also to blame in case of safety incidents, experts said in the aftermath of the Dakrong 3 hydropower dam crumpling.

With the current hydropower development management, the dam break at the Dakrong 3 hydropower plant might not be the last incident in the nation, since local authorities have not fulfilled their supervision role.

Speaking with the Daily, professor Nguyen Thanh Te, former rector of Water Resources University, said with his long-standing experiences of irrigation works and dams and lakes, the dam rupture at the Dakrong 3 hydropower plant is a serious problem. Not only is the developer responsible, as the current management and operation of hydropower plants in many localities at the moment are full of flaws.

Besides project owners who are supposed to take responsibilities for the safety and quality of hydropower projects, local competent authorities, in particular the provincial Department of Industry and Trade and the Department of Construction, must also be held accountable. They are mandated to keep watch of the construction quality of projects within their precincts, Te said.

Similarly, Do Duc Quan, deputy head of the General Energy Department, said the provincial government must also be responsible as such projects are licensed by them.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has recently asked provincial government nationwide to enhance their supervision over small-scale hydropower projects in their localities. However, many localities have not attended to this role, Quan said.

Part of the Dakrong 3 Hydropower Dam collapsed two weeks ago while the project owner was taking in water to generate power, but the incident at this small-scale power plant caused no casualties.

VietNamNet/SGT