At yesterday’s seminar, many experts gave strong objections to the two hydropower plants that are planned to be built in Dong Nai Province, claiming that they will cause great damage to the environment and thereby should be stopped.
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| The Ramsar area, which is the home to hundreds of fish and bird species and has been recognized by UNESCO as the world’s Wetland Biosphere Reserve, may be damaged by the two controversial hydro projects |
At yesterday’s seminar, many experts gave strong objections to the two hydropower plants that are planned to be built in Dong Nai Province, claiming that they will cause great damage to the environment and thereby should be stopped.
Two hydropower projects, Dong Nai 6 and Dong Nai 6A, on the Dong Nai River should not be approved as they would violate laws and damage the environment, experts warned at the seminar held in Ho Chi Minh City, titled “The Dong Nai River Basin: Impacts of the Hydropower Projects”.
Speaking at the event, Dr. Le Anh Tuan, from the Climate Change Research Institute of Can Tho University, said, “it is not advisable to build these two plants, as they may have a great impact on the entire region’s natural and social environment, causing immeasurable and irreversible consequences .”
The projects also violate the 2008 Law on Biological Diversity, under which, except for works built for the sake of defense and security, all construction projects are banned from being built in strictly protected areas in conservative zones, like Cat Tien National Park, a world natural heritage site, he said.
In addition, the projects are against the National Assembly’s Resolution 49/2010, under which projects or works using land which belongs to national parks, conservation areas, or forests for research purposes must get National Assembly approval if the land in question is 50 hectares or more.
The two projects cover 372.2 hectares, including about 137 hectares of forest in the Cat Tien Park, Tuan said.
These projects may also affect the Ramsar area, which is the home to hundreds of fish and bird species and has been recognized by UNESCO as the world’s Wetland Biosphere Reserve, he said.
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| A part of the green area where the Dong Nai 6 hydropower plant is planned to be built |
Le Tri Dung, director of the Board of Management of Dong Nai Province’s Relics and Landscapes, rejected the projects. The building of the two plants will erase archaeological relics in Cat Loc, an area that is considered the capital of the Oc Eo Culture, Dung said.
Tran Van Mui, director of the Dong Nai Cultural Nature Conservation Zone, said the hydropower project will use a great area of forest. “It is not practical for the project’s investors to say that reforestation can be made after the building of the two plants, since there will be no land left for such reforestation.”
Dr. Le Phat Quoi, from the Institute for Natural Resources and Environment Office, said a number of the contents of the environmental impact assessment report were shameful. “It contained fabrications. I have contributed my opinions to it but no changes have happened.”
Hoang Viet, the representative of the World Wildlife Fund, said the approval of the two projects will create a very bad precedent that could damage other national parks besides Cat Tien, in the future.
After the seminar, the Vietnam Rivers Network issued a statement demanding the two hydro projects be stopped the same day.
(Source:TTNews)
