The State-owned Viet Nam National Coal - Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) believed that it can control unwanted results during the testing period.
Many specialists pointed out that when the Red River coal basin is exploited, routine practices of 180,000 households in the delta will be disordered. A representative from Vinacomin said the group will conduct experiments on 6 ha of land of local people. The testing will last in only six months but Vinacomin intends to borrow the land in three years. The group will use the remaining time to restore the soil conditions and the local people will return to till the land.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Son, Director of Red River Energy Company - the investor of energy projects in the Red River coal basin (Vinacomin), said: There will be 11 projects in total. Most of them will be involved in exploration and testing. Currently, Vinacomin only set up the plan to seek approval. Then, it will execute a number of activities like exploration, testing and project establishment. The group will evaluate the economic effectiveness of the project when it completes the feasibility study.
Before experts’ warnings on impacts on strata and environment which may be recessive in several years, decades or even centuries, the Vinacomin representative said: “The time of impacts is measurable. We do not need to wait 30 years to find the answer but we can find during the testing period. We can stop the project if the impact is excessively adverse,” Mr. Son said.
Regarding project safety, Son said: The water in the Red River basin is profuse but it is scarce on coal layers. Specifically, at the depth of 150- 200 metres, there is much water but there is no coal bed. At farther depth, there are hundreds of coal beds but there is little water. Hence, the depression is a thorny problem. To deal with this, Vinacomin will test at different depths. If depression happens, the coalminer will use alluvium to strengthen the mine. Besides, the ground in the Red River Delta is weak; hence, it is very easy to dig up but it is very difficult to shore up the mine.
The quality of coal in Red River Delta may be lower than that in Quang Ninh province but the Red River coal is better for power generation and chemical industry than that in Quang Ninh province. Up to 70 % of coalmines in Quang Ninh province use open-air method, which is blamed for causing environmental pollution. Unlike Quang Ninh, the investor will use mining technology and underground coal gasification in the Red River Delta. These two technologies minimise environmental impacts.
Apart from routine practices of the local people, the food security is concerned because the Red River Delta is the second largest delta in Vietnam. Son said this project may have modest effects on the food security. If all 11 projects are carried out, the total land area reclaimed is 1,500 ha at most. “Between food security and energy security, I think the energy security is more pressing. At present, we export both food and energy but we will have to import energy in the near future,” Son emphasised.
If the Red River coal production is started, many thermal power plants as well as other industries like glass and ceramic will boom. I believe GDP of Hung Yen and Thai Binh provinces will multiply. The life of local people may be disordered as the provincial economies are restructured from agriculture to industry.
Huong Giang
Vietnamese
