On November 7, the Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Committee of Lam Dong Provincial Party Committee coordinated with the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and relevant agencies to organize a press conference in October, with orientation for propaganda in November.
At the conference, many reporters and journalists were interested in the break of the water reservoir of Viet Phong Phu Farm Company on Tan Lai Mountain (Tuy Phong Commune), causing serious flash floods.
Mr. Nguyen Ha Loc, Deputy Director of Lam Dong Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the reservoir in the project area of the company is not included in the construction permit and there is no environmental impact assessment report.
Regarding the information that the enterprise had called the authorities to evacuate people before the lake broke, Mr. Loc said: "This issue is under the authority of Tuy Phong commune, the Department has not received a report".
He also affirmed: There is no regulation allowing reservoirs under 500,000m3 to be exempted from licensing. According to the Law on Irrigation, the reservoir must comply with the planning and the technical documents must be assessed before construction. After checking, the project owner did not have these procedures".
Mr. Loc added that arbitrarily blocking the natural flow to store water of Viet Phong Phu Farm Company is a prohibited act under the Law on Water Resources.
Initially, the authorities determined that the broken lake had a water surface area of more than 20 hectares, with a capacity of about 900,000m3; this is the largest of many reservoirs in the farm.
Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee said that the company had dug a total of 6 ponds. Of which, 3 ponds are used for water storage and fish release, part of a high-tech agricultural project with the garden - pond - barn model.
However, these ponds are not included in the investment policy, environmental impact assessment report or construction permit approved by the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province (old) in 2018.
According to regulations, broken lakes are classified as medium-class reservoirs, and must strictly comply with technical regulations on irrigation. However, up to now, the enterprise has not provided any relevant documents or records.
Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee has requested the company to overcome the consequences for affected households, repair damaged irrigation works, and drain the remaining reservoirs and demolish dams to prevent water to ensure safety for downstream areas.
