Local people expressed support for the Government’s exclusion of
hydro-power projects No 6 and 6A on the Dong Nai River from an
electricity development master plan, with the decision being announced
by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai last week.
“If scientists and the media had not sounded the alarm about the
negative impacts these projects would have had on the environment (for
nearly seven years), over 300ha of primary forests in the Cat Tien
National Park would have been destroyed,” said Dr Vu Ngoc Long, Head of
the Southern Ecology Institute.
Earlier last month,
the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment had petitioned the
Government to reconsider No 6 and 6A as well as all other hydro-power
projects in the Dong Nai River Basin. It said the Government should do a
comprehensive review of the two since an environmental impact
assessment found that many issues still need to be clarified.
The ministry made its suggestion after sending a report to the
Government Office about the proposed construction of the two power
plants by Duc Long – Gia Lai Co. It said the two projects require
372.23ha of forests, including 128.37ha in Cat Loc, a core zone in the
Cat Tien National Park.
In its environmental impact
report, Duc Long – Gia Lai pledged to afforest the area but its report
did not show the areas or contain plans for afforestation. It also
failed to mention the estimated loss of bio-diversity at Cat Tien and
other ecological losses in the region. Measures proposed to minimise the
biological impacts were infeasible, according to the ministry.
Its report said no measures have been spelled out to protect the fauna
and flora while the impact on stream flows in the lower section would
affect the ecology, water levels, and the areas of swamp in Bau Sau
Ramsar.
The hydro-power projects also pose other
disadvantages. Work on related support facilities such as transmission
lines and roads to support them will have an adverse impact on the
environment and socio-economic conditions. This will also affect Nam Cat
Tien National Park. The projects could also affect the subsistence of
locals who earn their livelihoods from farming, aquaculture, and fishing
in the lower sections and impact Nam Cat Tien National Park’s
application for world heritage status.
“The Party
Committee, the People’s Committee, and National Assembly deputies from
Dong Nai repeatedly voiced the ‘disadvantages’ of these projects,” the
Deputy Chairman of the province People’s Committee, Nguyen Thanh Tri,
said. He added that these two projects would also have made the global
community lose confidence if the core zone of Nam Cat Tien National Park
had been destroyed.
Last week Bui Phap, Chairman
of Duc Long – Gia Lai’s management board said the company respects the
Government’s decision and would focus on other businesses. “This is a
national issue. We should think about national interests rather than the
company’s benefits,” he told the Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer)
newspaper.-VNA