People wait for water for irrigation and daily activities.
On December 29, information from the Kon Tum Provincial People's Committee said that the unit will review individuals and groups related to the Dak Pokei reservoir project (with an investment capital of 553.3 billion VND) due to delays. At the same time, review construction items before preparing to store water in the reservoir.
The Dak Pokei reservoir project was approved by the Kon Tum Provincial People's Committee for its construction feasibility study report in 2018. The construction period of phase 1 was from 2018-2020, then adjusted to be completed in 2023.
The project's goal is to provide stable irrigation water for 2,000 hectares of agricultural land, and domestic water for 35,000 people in Dak Ruong and Dak To Re communes, Kon Ray district and Dak Bla commune, Kon Tum city (divided into 2 phases).
This key project also ensures response to climate change and regulates flood reduction for downstream areas.
However, by December 2024, phase 1 of the project has not yet been completed, handed over and put into use. Local people are looking forward to having water soon to serve agricultural production.
Lack of quarries, high material costs
According to the People's Committee of Kon Tum province, the project was assigned by the province to the Project Management Board for Investment in Construction of Agricultural and Rural Development Works as the investor.
Currently, the remaining main West canal has a length of about 6.75km (valued at about 48 billion VND), the remaining main level 1 and 2 canals have a total length of about 3.62km (valued at about 7.5 billion VND).
The project of providing domestic water for 15,000 people in Kon Ray district (worth about 37.5 billion VND) has not yet been invested due to exceeding the total investment.
The reason was that at the time of construction, the stone quarries in Kon Ray district had low reserves and could not meet the supply. The contractor had to find other sources of stone, with long transportation distances, increasing costs.
The price of construction materials, especially steel materials for the main canal and the West main canal, increased dramatically by 35% - 50% compared to the bid price after signing the contract.
The geological survey of the cluster discovered weak geological layers with large water loss, increasing the dam height and the volume of foundation treatment, leading to increased construction costs.
The Provincial People's Committee assessed that some contractors have not ensured financial capacity and construction capacity is not really effective. The consortium of 3 contractors working on the same small site has caused overlaps and sometimes hindered each other.
In the coming time, Kon Tum Provincial People's Committee will regularly meet and discuss with investors to overcome the above difficulties and problems in order to soon put the key project into operation.
