Description

Two water supply works located in Tăng Long village, Tịnh Long commune, Quảng Ngãi city have been abandoned after a short period of operation. These waterworks were constructed for the resettlement areas and invested by the central province of Quảng Ngãi with total funding of over 14 billion VNĐ.

According to the chairman of the commune, the reasons for the abandonment of these waterworks are the imbalance between supply and demand, resulting in no revenue for operation and maintenance. Specifically, both waterworks were built (in 2011 and 2015) only after households resettled (in 2003 and 2013) in the area for several years. In this time, many families constructed houses and underground water wells. Therefore, when the waterworks were completed, only a limited number of households connect to the water distribution pipe. Another factor is that the commune was assigned to manage the waterworks, however, it did not have expertise and finance for the repair and maintenance. The water leakage rate was high, the commune had to compensate 17 million VNĐ for three years. In 2019, the water work stopped working.

In addition, local residents also reported that the quality of supply water was not good, especially from the beginning of the operation. This led to the hesitance of the households to connect to the waterworks. Presently, the majority of 2,000 households in the commune use water from underground water wells. The groundwater in the commune is mostly contaminated since the residential area is located near the field and a cemetery. The commune needs clean water and the abundance of these waterworks is a waste, said the commune’s chairman. The city is searching for a way to handle this, according to the vice-chairman of the Quảng Ngãi city’s people committee.

These issues of management and maintenance of water supply works are not rare, especially in the rural areas of Vietnam.

Sources & further information: “Quảng Ngãi: Dân “khát nước” cạnh 2 công trình nước sạch 15 tỷ đồng” at https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn, “Quảng Ngãi: Hai công trình nước sạch hơn 14 tỷ đồng bị bỏ hoang” at https://www.sggp.org.vn,  “Khắc phục những tồn tại trong quản lý, sử dụng và khai thác công trình cấp nước sạch” at https://tapchitaichinh.vn, and “Bất cập trong quản lý, khai thác công trình cấp nước sinh hoạt” at https://nhandan.vn,  accessed 12 November 2021.