Activities

Supervision of community investment with canal works in Lung Vay village, Minh Son commune, Ha Giang province

22/06/2020

On May 13-14, 2020, the Community Monitoring Board (CMB) of Minh Son commune, Bac Me district, Ha Giang province continued to collect more information about the canal project in Lung Vay village, Minh Son commune. This is a project that members of the committee have been monitoring since February.

Prior to this information collection, the CSC had a number of discussions, where members discussed to select projects, develop initial plans, questionnaires, and assign implementers. In each of those working sessions, officials from the Fatherland Front (FF) of Ha Giang province, the FF of Bac Me district and the Center for Development and Integration (CDI) have supported, participated in discussions and worked together with the commune’s CSC.

ảnh 1 1024x768 — The community monitoring board discussed the work plan

ảnh 2 1024x768 — The monitoring board interviewed the people of Lung Vay village

The community Monitoring Board interviewed the Chairman of Minh Son Commune People’s Committee

Up to now, the fixed-assess committee has made some initial findings on canal works, from the perspective of suitability, efficiency, publicity, transparency and participation of stakeholders.

Opinions from households said that the construction and repair of canals was the expectation of more than 60 households in the village, which has been proposed to the government for several years. Before the work was built, the village head and the secretary of the village cell informed the households about the construction time. However, the information about the project such as documents on investment decisions, capital sources, units participating in construction and construction supervision has not been fully informed to the people. When asked about the project information, a resident said:

“They have annnounced the construction of canals at the cultural house, but I can’t hear the common language well, and I don’t dare to ask. … But I really want to see the design to understand what’s going on.”

Going to observe the canal works, the CSC as well as the members of the support team had more detailed findings on the efficiency and quality of the works. The work after the basic upgrade has ensured the quality according to the design, meeting the irrigation needs of the people (specifically, irrigating 10 hectares of agricultural land in group 3 of Lung Vay village). The construction process, however, has some limitations.

Firstly, according to people’s reflection and the CSC to conduct field surveys, the size and quality are not satisfactory in the long run. The abutments supporting the siphon pipe are not of sufficient size and the abutments are not guaranteed not to be connected to the channel. Some abutments of the pipe site are poured on borrowed soil/rock. Some of the holes to divide water into the fields do not pour concrete slabs at the foot of the canal, so there is a phenomenon of the canal being eroded and high risk of landslide.

ảnh 4 — The quality of the abutment of the water pipe/siphon is not guaranteed

Second, the spillway built is not the right size according to the collected design.

ảnh 5 1024x529 — The image of the hole dividing the water from the canal to the field without pouring concrete slabs, causing erosion of the canal foot

ảnh 6 1024x768 — The Board is experimentally measuring the size of the canal

ảnh 7 — The quality of the work is not guaranteed

Additional information collected by the CSC from this monitoring session will be summarized and exchanged by its members with stakeholders including the investor, the construction unit, the People’s Committee of Minh Son commune and the households of Lung Vay village in a meeting at the end of June.

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