HCM City Party chief wants to speed up lying of pipeline

“Dau Tieng is very important for HCM City because it ensures water security and safety,” Thang said during a visit to the reservoir on February 14. 

Currently water from Dau Tieng is taken to HCM City through open channels for agricultural, industrial and household use. 

“It is not safe and wastes water, especially when water is not needed for irrigation but the lake gates are still opened.” 

Ho Van Lam, General Director of the Saigon Water Supply Corporation, said the pipeline is estimated to cost around 10 trillion VND (450 million USD). 

Thang said, “It is a big investment and the corporation should draw up a proposal in the second quarter of this year to solicit investment.” 

During his visit, Thang also called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to amend the operational regulations for the lake which are over 30 years old. 
“Related authorities must protect it better because HCM City and several neighbouring provinces use water from it.” 

Thang expressed concern about hundreds of households, mostly ethnic Vietnamese coming back from Cambodia, who are living on the dam water and generating wastewater. 

“Factories should not be allowed to discharge their waste into the lake and raising fish in cages should be banned.” 

He called on the authorities to install equipment to monitor the lake’s environment. 

He instructed HCM City authorities to release billions of small fishes (there are 500 million available now) in the reservoir to feed local residents. 

The Dau Tieng-Phuoc Hoa irrigation system, with 270sq.km of water surface, is the biggest irrigation system in Vietnam and supplies water to HCM City and Tay Ninh and Long An provinces. It irrigates over 108,000ha. 

On February 10 the Government had issued a decision recognising Dau Tieng as a construction of national importance.

A dam on the Dau Tieng lake (Photo: VNA)