VietNamNet Bridge - The lives of hundreds of thousands of households in the downstream Ba River has been upset since the day the An Khe-Kanak blocked the stream to store water for electricity generation in September 2011.

The government office on April 3 informed the Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s request that the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) have to report about the building and operation of the An Khe-Kanak’s power plant’s water reservoir.

The instruction was released after a survey on the drought was conducted in Gia Lai province and a National Assembly deputy spoke about the problems caused by An Khe-Kanak.

Huynh Thanh, the National Assembly’s deputy, said the hydropower plant’s reservoir has been operating unreasonably, thus causing the lack of water and seriously affecting the life of the people in The downriver area. 

Thanh said An Khe-Kanak was the ‘century’s blunder’.

The lives of hundreds of thousands of households in the downstream Ba River has been upset since the day the An Khe-Kanak blocked the stream to store water for electricity generation in September 2011.

Local people along the Ba River complain that the hydropower plant takes away the water of the river which has helped feed millions of people.

An Khe-Kanak is designed to use water in two levels. In level 1, the water from Ba River is brought to Kanak reservoir, which has the capacity of 285 million cubic meters, to run Kanak plant.

In level 2, the water, after being used to run electricity generation units, is poured into An Khe reservoir, which has the capacity of 5.6 million cubic meters, to run An Khe plant. The water left is brought to Cat Streamline from which it would go to the Con River.

As such, while the hydropower plant takes away the water from Ba River, it gives the water back to Con River.

As a result, the locals on the lower course of Ba River, including six districts of Gia Lai province and 5 districts in Phu Yen province, have been suffering heavily from the lack of water.

Tran Bang, 61, complained that it was now very hard to earn his living with the fishing, which he and his family have been doing for many years.

“We can earn about VND100,000 a day only. Two thirds of the fishing village have left to take other jobs,” he said. 

Nguyen Thi Tam in An Khe Town said that since Ba River’s stream was blocked, she dare not go bathing on the river or wash anymore, because the river is polluted. 

In Krong Pa district of Gia Lai province, rice fields are withering because of the lack of watering.

Meanwhile, according to Nguyen Tan Thuan, deputy director of Phu Yen Water Supply and Drainage Company, water for daily life is seriously lacking in the districts of Son Hoa, Phu Hoa and the city of Tuy Hoa.


NLD