Dormant dam

Krong Buk Ha is the second largest irrigation project ever in the Central Highlands region after the one in Gia Lai Province.

Worth a total of VND1.1 trillion (US$66.32 million) in investment, the project was supposed to dam 110 million cubic meters of water to irrigate 12,000 hectares of rice and coffee farmland.

Now three years into the work, the project management and local administration are still stuck on the first phase of finding appropriate soil to build the dam that would block waterways and divert water into the irrigation lake.

In the first year of the project, contractors thought they could exploit some dunes in Krong Buk Ha Lake to build the main dam two kilometers long. But the dune soil turned out to be unsuitable.

A subsequent geographical survey of the area found that good soil for constructing the dam was located on a hill in Krong Pak District’s Ea Phe Commune.

However, contractors and locals stalled over negotiations for land compensation since the plot was being used for cultivation.

Pham Huu Thanh, deputy head of the project management, said talks with locals about obtaining the land have dragged on from 2007 until now.

The dam needs about four million cubic meters of soil, including more than one million cubic meters of clay to build the dam’s core.

So far contractors have acquired 150,000 cubic meters of clay, Thanh said, adding that locals have handed over only a quarter of the 160 hectares of land needed for the dam.

Thanh also expressed concern that regular rains this season will slow construction.

Le My, another deputy head of the project management, emphasized the compensation process is a huge headache for contractors.

“As the land compensation value increases year after year, many locals just hold out to be paid more,” My said, adding that contractors and project management also lost time dealing with from people compensated early in the process.

Dang Thi Hoa, head of the project management and vice chairwoman of Krong Pak District People’s Committee, said the compensation budget in 2005 was VND81 billion ($4.88 million), but now costs have surged to more than VND360 billion ($21.71 million).

Hoa said the project flooded more than 1,500 hectares of land, affecting 1,440 households of which 514 had to be resettled. The original budget estimates for the project didn’t include costs for clearing waterways or compensation for destroyed farming facilities.

The district has not been able to raise the funds to cover these unexpected costs, she said.

In late July this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development paid a visit to the province and agreed to inject VND30 billion ($1.81 million) into the project.

Reported by Tran Ngoc Quyen