Vietnam to Scrutinize 800 Hydropower Projects Next Months

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade will conduct an inspection on 800 hydropower projects nationwide in the coming months in order to timely cancel projects that possibly cause adverse impacts on the surrounding environment.

The move follows recent complaints that many hydropower plants, particularly those that are located in central Vietnam, are causing negative effects to the ecosystem and affecting people’s lives in the surroundings, the Vietnamnet online newspaper reported.

Recently, experts said that producing every 1 MW of hydroelectricity means destroying combined 16 hectares of forestry and agricultural land in the central highlands province of Lam Dong while hydropower plants have eliminated 15,000 hectares of forests in the upstream basin of Dong Nai River.

Investors’ neglect to environmental impact assessment on hydropower projects is attributed to the en masse hydropower licensing in Vietnam, public opinion said.

The ministry has decided to cancel 21 projects and adjust plans to build 35 hydropower plants in the regions due to possible negative effects to the society and environment after it inspected 393 hydropower projects with a combined capacity of 7,381 MW in the central and central highlands regions in March.

To date, Vietnamese authorities have licensed 1,021 hydropower projects with a combined capacity of 24,246 MW in 36 cities and provinces nationwide.

Tags: Vietnam energy, Vietnam hydropower projects, Vietnam power plants