Hydropower plants or “hydropower bombs”?
The recent incident at Song Bung Hydropower Plant has alerted Vietnam to reconsider the construction of so many hydroelectric plants, which have been compared to “timebombs”. Those who visit the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang cannot miss Ma Pi Leng, one of the four most famous mountain passes in Vietnam. Standing on the pass, one can see the beautiful Nho Que River running below, now the home to three hydropower plants. Ha Giang authorities accepted environmental and ecological risks in return for $5 million of tax revenues from these hydropower plants. But investors now owe nearly $2 million of environmental charges. Ha Giang is lucky because these hydropower bombs have not caused any disaster. Some provinces, however, have not been as lucky as Ha Giang. A water valve at the Song Bung 2 Hydropower Plant in the central province of Quang Nam broke on September 13, with water from the plant’s conductor tunnel sweeping away two on-duty workers, destroying two houses in La Ee Commune’s downstream area and flooding some roads in nearby communes.
