A meeting between Dragon Law Firm with leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade

Dragon Law Firm works with leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade regarding losses of households in Ho Commune on June 24th, 2019

Lawyer Nguyen Minh Long - Director of Dragon Law Firm is a defender of the legal rights and interests of 18 households in Ban Ho commune, Sa Pa district, Lao Cai province. The lawyer contacted to work with the leaders of the Department of Industry and Trade of Lao Cai - a specialized management agency ....specializing in performing the consultancy function and helping the Provincial People's Committee perform the state management function of industry and trade, including energy management. Pursuant to Notice No. 112 / SCT-NL of the Department of Industry and Trade of Lao Cai Province, issued on February 3th, 2020 on holding sessions related to damage to houses, properties and crops of household in Ban Ho commune and Su Pan commune in Sa Pa district during the flood on June 23-24th, 2019.

Lawyer Nguyen Minh Long - Dragon Law Firm Hanoi Bar Association met Mr. Phan Van Cuong - Deputy Director of Lao Cai Department of Industry and Trade in charge of energy management and Inspectorate of Department of Industry and Trade at Department of Industry and Trade on the morning of February 5^th, 2020.

At the meeting, Mr. Phan Van Cuong, Deputy Director of Department of Industry and Trade, presided over the position with Master of Lawyer Nguyen Minh Long as follows:

Immediately after the incident, leaders of the Department of Industry and Trade were present at the scene, collecting data and assessing the situation, identifying this as a serious incident, causing heavy losses for the people. Therefore, it takes time to evaluate and make conclusions about the responsibilities of Viet Long Company carefully and carefully. This avoids misleading conclusions that cause damage to businesses.

After a period of collecting data, comparing the survey data of the projects above, below and surrounding basins, the Department of Industry and Trade determined: first, there was flooding with a frequency of 0.95% (similarly once every 100 years), the flood flow reaches 1400m3 / second, which is considered a particularly large flood for this Su Pan hydropower project. Second, the Muong Hoa stream flowing through the area of ​​Ban Ho commune is further filled, causing the stream to dry. Thirdly, Su Pan 1 hydroelectric plant has very urgent flood discharge and the task of the hydroelectric plants in this case is specified in the operation process of the plant approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Project owner - Viet Long Industry Joint Stock Company during the flood discharge process has 2 (two) basic violations as follows:

The first violation is the operation of the valve system that does not comply with the operating procedure. Specifically, the opening stage of the valve is correct but the stage after passing the flood peak does not comply.

The second violation is not complying with flood discharge communication. Viet Long Company only pulls its horn when discharging floods, notifies the below hydropower project by telephone without notifying Ban Ho commune, while the notification process is required to notify Ban Ho. If the company informs the people in time, it is possible that the damage of the people still occurs but is significantly reduced. Because the flooding time from the project to Ban Ho commune is about 20 minutes, during which time people can move their valuable assets to other places to protect their assets. As such, the notification process, Viet Long Company has complied but not fully.

Prior to that assessment, the Department of Industry and Trade of Lao Cai Province issued the Decision on sanctioning administrative violations No. 03 / QD-XPVPHC dated July 29, 2019 for Viet Long Industrial Joint Stock Company for two acts. as above. Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 134/2013 / ND-CP of October 17, 2013, on sanctioning of administrative sanctions in the field of electricity, hydroelectric dam safety and economical and efficient use of energy. Total fine: 120,000,000 VND.

The opinion of the leaders of Lao Cai People's Committee is that any unit with an error must pay compensation. After Ban Ho Commune People's Committee statistics damage based on people's declaration, Viet Long Company disagrees. The People's Committee of Sa Pa district invited private appraisal units to assess the damage but none accepted it.

Therefore, the People's Committee of Sa Pa district has to set up an appraisal team to coordinate with the District Agriculture Department to evaluate the value of damage of residents' property at VND 2,079,329,922. After that, the leaders of the Department of Industry and Trade, the District People's Committee and the provincial People's Committee held a people's meeting to announce the value of damaged properties, but the people continued to disagree and demand satisfactory compensation.

In the process of handling the incident, although the Viet Long company was at fault and now they are also deploying to build two other projects in Ban Ho commune (Ban Ho and Nam Sai hydroelectric projects) but There was no appropriate conduct with the people affected. Company leaders do not visit and encourage people in flood areas, do not apologize and accept any responsibility to the local people. On the contrary, they also repudiated their responsibility for the reason that the flood came quickly, Viet Long Company was forced to discharge in the risk of dam failure. Therefore, the losses of people are not directly caused by them. This has pushed people's frustration to the extreme.

In the past years, the process of remedying people has made great efforts from related agencies and local agencies and helped. Department of Industry and Trade worked and mobilized Viet Long Company to provide additional support to the people, but the company's leaders only agreed to support 996 million VND (including VND 700 million of initial support money sent to the district and VND 296 million for phase 2). The remaining amount is the Department of Industry and Trade is raising capital from the budget, socializing and supporting businesses. The Division is lobbying the Disaster Prevention Fund and other organizations to contribute financially to support people in stabilizing their lives after the terrible flood on June 24, 2019. The District People's Committee has approved the plan. Department of Industry and Trade, its leaders are waiting for feedback from agencies and if mobilized, the Department of Industry and Trade will report to the province and make a plan to pay support to the affected households in Ban Ho commune.

Master of Lawyer Nguyen Minh Long

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