VietNamNet Bridge - Billions of dong have been poured into clean water supply works, but local people living nearby still don’t have clean water.

 

Many water supply works were built under the Program 134 on supplying water to poor ethnic minority people which kicked off in 2004. However, the works only provided water for several days and then stopped working.

Part 1: Water supply works left idle in commune

Dao Tru commune in Tam Dao district of Vinh Phuc province has six water supply stations, but none of them work. Some of them have been left half-finished. As for others, the water cannot reach the tanks because the pipeline has broken. 

As a result, people have to use the polluted water they take from the wells they have dug themselves, or spent their own money to install water pumping systems, just next to the state-funded water supply works.

The 1,000 people in Tan Tien hamlet of Dao Tru commune were told that they would have clean water from a mountain which would run through a system of pipelines and seven tanks. However, they have not had any clean water as promised.

Pham Thi Ngan, a local resident, who lives next to one of the tanks, said no drop of water has reached the tank over the last four years.

Pointing to the waterfall at the mountain, Nguyen Van Lan, 70, said: “Though the water source is near, we still have to use dirty water, while the water supply works have been left idle.”

According to Nguyen Thanh Binh, head of Tan Tien hamlet, the water supply work was completed in 2011 and invested by the Vinh Phuc Ethnic Minority Committee.

“Locals were so happy when hearing about the water supply works. They donated land for water tanks and waited for water. But water has not come,” Binh said. 

Who is to blame? According to Nguyen Dac Van, chair of Dao Tru commune, the water supply works do not work properly because they are modeled after an urban water supply model. They could only run for a short time because of a lack of money for maintenance.

“The investor handed over the water works to the local authorities for management. However, we lack money and necessary skills to maintain the works,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Ngoc Tao, head of the Vinh Phuc provincial Ethnic Minority Committee, said that the investor only takes the responsibility of building water supply works and maintenance for one year. 

“It is the local authorities’ responsibility to operate the works,” he said.

Tien Phong