Proposed Vietnam hydro projects to undergo environmental assessment

New environmental impact assessments will be conducted on two proposed hydropower plants in Veitnam.

These are projects 6 and 6A, that would reclaim 154 hectares of forested land in Cat Tien National Park in southern Dong Nai Province.

The projects’ investor has asked the Institute of Natural Resources and Environment under the National University in HCM City to conduct the assessment, after scientists recently discovered that the previous one had not been done properly.

The institute's director, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Van Phuoc, said that his institute would offer recommendations to stop the projects if they find that the plants would cause environmental damage.

“We are to conduct careful assessments based on scientific requirements of related agencies,” Phuoc said, adding that the assessments could answer the questions raised by scientists on the impact of the projects.

The assessment will examine the distribution of water in the Dong Nai River basin, forestland reclamation, and the attitude of the local community toward the power plants. It will also investigate whether reclamation of the forestland, which covers 5 percent of total area of the park, would violate the criteria required to be a national park.

Flora and fauna will be surveyed to measure the impact on species as well as individuals. The assessment will also evaluate its impact on fishermen, as well as the park’s Crocodile Pond, which is one of the last remaining habitats for Indochina crocodiles in the world and recognised as a natural heritage and a world heritage site by UNESCO.

But experts have been concerned about the neutrality of such assessments because they are paid for by the investor.