On May 26, Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee submitted a report to the Provincial People's Council for consideration and comments on the commitment to allocate counterpart funds from the local budget to continue implementing the Sub-project to upgrade and build an irrigation system to serve irrigation for dry crops.
This project belongs to the Project to improve water efficiency for provinces affected by drought (WEIDAP/ADB8).
The sub-project is managed by Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee as the managing agency, and the Project Management Board for Investment in Construction of Transport and Agriculture and Rural Development of the province (Board A) as the investor. The project is funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with ODA loans.
The project is being implemented in Cu M'Gar, Krong Pak, Ea H'Leo and Ea Kar districts (old) with a total initial investment of more than 545.2 billion VND, equivalent to about 23.5 million USD. Of which, ODA loans are more than 464.4 billion VND, and local budget counterpart funds are about 80.8 billion VND.
The goal of the project is to upgrade, renovate and modernize the irrigation system in a flexible direction, adapting to extreme weather phenomena such as drought and floods; reduce water loss, improve water distribution efficiency and create conditions for crop diversification.
The main items include upgrading the 3.86km long Ea Kuang Lake gravity irrigation canal; building electric pumping stations to take water from Doi 500, Krong Buk Ha, Ea Kuang, Buon Yong and Town Lakes; building a system of water pipelines, operating management roads and SCADA system to serve smart irrigation management.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Tran Tien Dong - Director of Board A - said that in the process of implementation, the project has encountered many difficulties related to changes in compensation and resettlement support policies approved many years ago that are no longer appropriate. In addition, the land area to be cleared increased from 6.425ha to 22.86ha. The above reasons have caused the total investment to increase by about 135.4 billion VND.
After adjustment, the total investment of the project is expected to increase to about 680.7 billion VND. Of which, the ODA loan capital remains unchanged, while the provincial budget counterpart capital increases from more than 80.8 billion VND to more than 216.3 billion VND.
Mr. Nguyen Thien Van - Vice Chairman of Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee - said: "The province proposes to extend the project implementation time until December 31, 2028 to ensure the completion of items and promote investment efficiency.
The early completion of the sub-project also contributes to supporting the project to strengthen the resilience of small-scale agriculture to water security due to climate change in the Central Highlands and South Central regions. Thereby helping to connect irrigation systems to poor and near-poor households in the project area".
Currently, some items of the project have been implemented. Thi Tran Lake pumping station reached about 27% of the contract volume; Doi 500 Lake pumping station reached about 6% of the contract value. Some other items are still completing site clearance procedures or waiting for investment policy adjustments.
Accumulated disbursement from the beginning of the project to date has reached more than 35.1 billion VND, of which ODA capital is more than 13.5 billion VND and local budget counterpart capital is more than 21.6 billion VND.
