Not any single business project has ever seen such high-intensity criticisms from all walks of life, with thousands of articles in local media highlighting the multiple damages in various aspects. However, given the way controversies are addressed, it is likely that the balance is tilting towards Duc Long Gia Lai Group as the owner of Dong Nai 6 and 6A hydropower project.
Not any single business project has ever seen such high-intensity criticisms from all walks of life, with thousands of articles in local media highlighting the multiple damages in various aspects. However, given the way controversies are addressed, it is likely that the balance is tilting towards Duc Long Gia Lai Group as the owner of Dong Nai 6 and 6A hydropower project.
The project is to be developed in the core of Nam Cat Tien National Park, and the investor has assured the public that impacts on the environment are minimal. It is this very point that has aroused stiff public resistance for months on end.
It is needless to say that from the very beginning, local media months ago already pointed out that the environment impact report from the project owner was an act of cheating as facts covered in the report were ‘copycats’ and were merely myths. The new report, according to the local media, also reportedly contains lies in various details.
The project owner in its new environment impact report says that the project’s reservoirs and dams will occupy only 370 hectares in the national park, a point grossly rejected by scientists at a seminar convened in HCMC this Sunday by the Vietnam Rivers Network (VRN) organization. Le Tu Trinh, an environment scientist, is quoted as saying in Dan Tri that the total area damaged by the project will likely be many times bigger. He cites the case of Tri An Reservoir, which until now has damaged thousands of square kilometers compared to the initial estimate of only 210 square kilometers.
But even worse, the affected zone is to lie in the core of the park, threatening the biodiversity there. Pham Huu Khanh of the national park says that this core zone has very high biodiversity, with many endemic species of fauna and flora enlisted in the Red Book of Vietnam and the world, according to Nguoi Lao Dong. “The development will destroy the habitat of many rare species, ruin the ecosystem and the structure of the primitive forest,” Khanh is quoted as saying.
Le Tri Dung, head of the Heritage-Culture Management Board of Dong Nai Province, observes that many sites of high archaeological value belonging to pre-historic civilizations are scattered along the Dong Nai River, so the project will wipe out such values. “It is heart-rending that over 100 vestiges of ancient times have been buried for good under the reservoir of Tri An Plant. And how many more sites of great value will be submerged when the new power plant goes up?” Dung ponders in Nguoi Lao Dong.
Local media also highlights irregularities in preparing the project.
Thanh Nien cites a report of VRN as saying “Cat Tien National Park has been zoned for preserving the country’s biodiversity, so the agriculture ministry has breached the Law on Biodiversity by allocating land in the park for the project.”
Dai Doan Ket refers to a resolution of the National Assembly requiring that any project of national importance that occupies more than 50 hectares in national parks or nature reserves must be approved by this very law-making body, while this hydropower project has never been submitted to the National Assembly.
Dao Trong Tu, advisor of VRN, says in Tuoi Tre that “the project’s report contains many lies,” and licensing the project is abnormal. Also in this paper, Nguyen Hoang Tri, general secretary of the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Program, calls for all-out efforts to prevent the project. “We must awake before being pushed to the verge,” he stresses.
Such arguments, in fact, are not the new ones, since scientists have for months raised their common voices against the project, but all are seemingly falling to the deaf ear. Certain ministerial officials have even thrown their support behind the project owner.
Le Duc Chuong, head of the science, technology and environment department under the Ministry of Culture-Sports-Tourism, has openly called for public support for the project. Speaking at a meeting of the assessment council for the project, Chuong hailed the project owner for making careful preparations, and “we propose that the assessment council endorse the project’s environment report so that the project can be deployed soon,” says Phap Luat.
His comments immediately backfire, and the Ministry of Culture-Sports-Tourism soon after clarifies that the comment is not the official viewpoint of the ministry.
Vnexpress and many other local newspapers have branded Nam Cat Tien with all its strong biodiversity as a treasure of nature. However, for the project owner and certain officials, environment values are no one’ treasure, and the economic value should prevail.
Nguyen Khac Kinh, a former official of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, says in an interview with Tien Phong that the project seems to have reached a point of no return. “Unless there are opinions from the National Assembly or the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment can hardly reject the project.”
Nguyen Minh Nhi, former chairman of An Giang Province, says in an article authored by himself in Tuoi Tre he senses that provincial governments, scientists and the public are about to lose in this war of words. He calls for top authorities to heed conscience so as to avoid punishment from the wrath of nature.
(Source: SGT)
