While local residents and authorities in the central province of Quang Tri worry that a section of the spillway channel has burst at the Dakrong Hydropower Plant 3, Mai Van Hue, director of Tan Hoan Cau Company and the main contractor of the plant, denies there has been any breach in the dam.
Hue is also chairman of the Truong Son Hydropower Company, investor of the Dakrong Hydropower Plant 3 project.
Ho Van Vien, chairman of the People’s Committee in Ta Long Commune of Dakrong District, where the plant is located, said that a section of the dam had burst on October 7.
Vien said he has already reported the matter to higher authorities, and the deputy chairman of the People’s Committee of Dakrong District has also examined and confirmed the dam breach.
The office of the People’s Committee in Quang Tri Province has confirmed that the spillway channel has breached due to erratic water accumulation in the reservoir.
Mai Van Hue completely rejected the theory of a breach, saying the plant dam has 222 meters of spillway channel. Of this, 26 meters is still to be built.
He had earlier instructed workers to build a temporary concrete section along this area and accumulate water in the reservoir to check if the dam was leaking or not. Afterwards he destroyed the concrete section to complete construction of the spillway channel.
However, Hue could not explain why he allowed water to accumulate in the reservoir during a period of such heavy rainfall and why he destroyed the concrete section without informing local residents.
Contradicting Hue, Nguyen Thanh Hai, director general of the Truong Son Hydropower Company, confirmed that two 20 meter sections of the spillway channel had actually burst.
The breach was caused because the construction of the spillway channel was carried out while it was raining very heavily and while water was simultaneously being accumulated in the reservoir. Initial damage to the dam is estimated at VND20 billion (US$958,000) and 13 nearby households have been severely affected.
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Breach in hydropower plant dam in Quang Tri Province
