Forty reservoirs in Hoa Binh were repaired and upgraded under a World Bank-funded project

Water security ensured

Hoa Binh province has 544 reservoirs in operation, of which over 192 are degraded, damaged, and have potential risks. The province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reported to the General Department of Water Resources, asking for consideration and financial support to repair 98 reservoirs.

Ten of the degraded reservoirs were incorporated into the project WB7 while the other 40 reservoirs were included in the WB8 project with loans from the World Bank.

Thus the province still faces a shortage of VND 301.6 trillion to repair and upgrade 48 other degraded reservoirs.

On March 9^th, 2020, Hoa Binh Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 444/QD-UBND approving designs and construction costs for reservoirs at Hoi Kha lake, Men 1 lake, Men 2 lake., Dong Ben lake, Tuan Lo lake, Na Mang lake, Coc lake, An Thinh lake, and Ra lake, under subproject 02 of the WB8 project on dam safety improvement and repair.

The project aims to repair and upgrade irrigation works to guarantee the water supply for agricultural production and people's lives, ensuring the safety of the works and the areas downstream of the dam as well as renewing the environment in the project area. The investor is the Investment and Construction Project Management Board of Agriculture and Rural Development projects in Hoa Binh province.

Much of the work is being completed on time and expected to be put into operation before June 30, 2022, when the WB8 project will be closed.

At Dong Ben lake in Phu Minh commune, Ky Son district, engineers and workers are busy reinforcing the top of the dam with 20-cm-thick concrete blocks.

Nguyen Van Duc, Branch Manager of Exploitation of Irrigation Works 2, Hoa Binh Irrigation Works Exploitation One Member Company Limited, said that the overflow spillway of the lake used to be seriously eroded and affected water storage and downstream safety. 

Especially after storm No. 5 in 2018, the risk of the dam breaking was very high.

The Dong Ben Reservoir was then included in the investment portfolio of the WB8 project. The construction of the spillway has now been completed. Other items such as sewage and roads were repaired to ensure dam safety, especially in the rainy season.

Currently, the area of ​​Dong Ben reservoir is currently about 3.5 ha. If it were dredged, its bed could be expanded to 5 ha, increasing the water storage capacity from 500,000 m³ to 1 million m³ .

As a result, the company would have a water source to ensure agricultural production for neighbouring localities. It is expected that the repaired reservoir will be put into operation by June 30, 2022.

Besides Dong Ben reservoir, other dams and reservoirs in Hoa Binh province are also included in the investment portfolio of the WB8 project. Some examples are the Hoi Kha reservoir in Ngoc My commune, Tan Lac district, the Na Mang reservoir in Hop Tien commune, Kim Boi district, and the Tuan Lo reservoir in Tuan Lo commune, Tan Lac district.

The works under subproject 02, WB8 project in Hoa Binh province use 11.8 ha of land and the estimated value of construction of the 10 above works is more than VND 91 billion. Of this, construction cost is nearly VND 84 billion, the cost for constructing general items is more than VND 2.5 billion, the insurance cost is about VND 858 billion, and the rest are provisions expenses.

Using ODA capital to repair the reservoirs

Tran Van Vuong, Deputy Director of the Investment and Construction Project Management Board of Agriculture and Rural Development projects in Hoa Binh province, said that due to the complicated development of the Covid-19 pandemic, some ancillary items might not be completed within the project deadline (June 30, 2022). Thus, it was proposed to extend the implementation time of the WB8 project and add more reservoirs to benefit from the project. 

“ Domestic capital, especially the budget of Hoa Binh province, is very limited, while the need to invest in irrigation works, especially reservoir works is very large. Therefore the need to use ODA capital to build works is very urgent," said Vuong.

Implementing regulations on the safe management of dams and irrigation reservoirs, Hoa Binh Provincial People's Committee has issued 2 legal documents: Decision No. 19 issued in 2019 on decentralization of public irrigation work management and exploitation; and Decision No. 09 issued in 2019 on stipulating the scope of protection of irrigation works in Hoa Binh province.