Binh Phuoc urgently repair the floating 'water bombs'

As a landlocked province, Binh Phuoc has complex terrain, and this locality is exposed to all types of natural disasters, except for drought and salinity. Despite possessing a relatively large irrigation system, with 62 large and small dams, however, most of the projects were built a long time ago, and some have expired and are degraded. However, the province's current funding source is still limited and cannot be arranged for synchronous repairs.

For example, Lake NT2 - team 7 in Phuoc Minh commune, Bu Gia Map district was built in the 1980s, upgraded and repaired in 2011, the entire reservoir capacity is about 1.74 million m3. Its main missions are providing irrigation water, creating landscapes, regulating climate in the project area and reducing floods in the downstream area.

However, after being put into operation, some construction works have now deteriorated. In particular, the phenomenon of downstream seepage causes hazards. The project can becomes a "water bomb" hanging over people's heads when floods come.

Present at Lake NT2 reservoir - team 7, we noted that the long dam section had dozens of termite mounds running along the upper and lower roof; the surface of the gravel dam is eroded; the lake bed has been silted up for a long time, further affecting its ability to store water. To ensure project safety during the rainy season, Binh Phuoc Irrigation Services Company Limited proactively lowered the water level and did not store water according to the design capacity.

“To overcome difficulties, due to limited funding for maintenance and repair and limited local funding, the province's agricultural sector has proposed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development pay attention to investing in repairs, reconstruction, and upgrade. The requests have been included by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the project to ensure reservoir safety for the period 2021-2025", Chairman of Binh Phuoc Irrigation Services Company Limited Dang Dinh Thuan shared.

Mr. Thuan added that of the 62 irrigation reservoirs in the province, 15 are currently damaged and degraded to an alarming level, posing high risks. In particular, there are two reservoirs that have seepage in the dam body and need to be upgraded: NT2 D7 (Bu Gia Map district) and Ong Thoai lake (Bu Dang district). There are more than 10 other reservoirs that are damaged and degraded and need to be repaired and upgraded.

In the period 2016 - 2021, the total capital for repairing and upgrading works to ensure dam safety in Binh Phuoc province is VND 85 billion. In order for natural disaster prevention and search and rescue to be highly effective, Binh Phuoc recommends Vinasarcom to continue to allocate vehicles and equipment for incident and natural disaster response and search and rescue in the province. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development submitted to the Prime Minister to support funding sources for the province to invest in repairing, upgrading, and maintaining 15 damaged and degraded irrigation works with a total cost of about VND 138 billion.

The People's Committee of Binh Phuoc province has just issued an urgent dispatch (No. 3447/UBND-KT) requesting units and localities to focus on prevention and control, minimize damage caused by subsidence, cracks, geological fractures, road landslides, and dam safety in the area. In particular, the People's Committee of Binh Phuoc province requested the Department of Industry and Trade to preside and coordinate with relevant units to organize and well implement state management of hydroelectric projects and dams in the province. The Department needs to regularly inspect, supervise and request units managing and operating Thac Mo, Can Don and Srok Phu Mieng lakes to strictly implement the approved inter-lake operating procedures to ensure project safety.

The Provincial People's Committee is advised to direct and coordinate well the work of providing and promptly sharing information, reservoir operation data, and hydrometeorological monitoring at stations for agencies and units in the area and provinces and cities in the basin to ensure effective implementation in the organization of inter-reservoir operations.