People in Thuan An Commune, Dac Mil District, the Central Highland province of Dak Nong use pipe water supplied by the “Clean water for border areas” programme. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Hundreds of clean waterprojects have been built in the Central Highlands in recent years to servepeople living in poor and remote areas.

But in many places, residents are still struggling to find fresh water despiteliving close to clean water facilities because many have been abandoned foryears wasting state budget, Tien Phong (Vanguard) newspaper reported.

According to a report by Dak Nong Province’s Agriculture and Rural DevelopmentDepartment (ARDD), there are 245 water supply projects with investment of nearly375 billion VND (16.3 million USD).

Only 72 are in operation, accounting for 29.39 percent and the remaining of 173projects have been left abandoned for years.

A clean water facility built in resettlement area B in Dak Nut hill, Gia NghiaTownship, cost more than 16 billion VND (695,650 USD) but it has not onceoperated since it was completed in 2015.

Households living in the resettlement area still used water provided Dak NongUrban Development and Water Supply Joint Stock Company.

“People here still use water supplied by local water company. The clean waterproject in Dak Nut hill has not been operated for many years,” a local residentsaid.

Duong Van Khoai from the irrigation office in Nghia Duc Ward, told thenewspaper he did not know the investor of that water particular facilitybecause the construction has not been handed over to the locality.

The 700 million VND water supply facility nearby in Dak Nia Commune has notworked for 10 years since it was completed in 2005.

Many water pipes were damaged due to bad weather.

“The clean water supply project was built closely to my house but we cannotaccess fresh water,” H’Duyen, a local resident said.

“My family still use water from lakes and streams.”

Talking with Tien Phong newspaper, head of Dak Nong Water Supply and DrainageCompany, Nguyen Cong, said the provincial People's Committee has not handedover any water supply works in the town to the company.

"In 2013, I used to suggest not building these works because it was awaste, but no one cared about my opinion."

About 66 water supply works out of an abandoned 173 projects are proposed forliquidation and 107 for repair, according to report of provincial Agricultureand Rural Development Department.

“We have required localities to review and re-evaluated the status of cleanwater supply facilities in the whole province for repair.

For less broken systems, they will be repaired if the local residents need touse them. And for constructions with serious damage, they will be proposed fordemolition,” said Hoang Trung Tho, deputy director of ARDD of Dak NongProvince.

🧸 In Dak Lak Province, of the 168 clean water supply projects costing 400 billionVND, there are 51 that have been abandoned. Of which 20 were badly damaged onesand considered for demolition.

Nguyen Duc Thuan, chairman of Hoa Xuan CommunePeople's Committee, Buon Ma Thuot City, said five out of seven water supplyprojects have been left untouched over ten years while the demand for water wasurgent.

“Each village sent people to learn how to operate the water supply systems andwe had used this water for a short time. Then troubles occurred. There is nofunds for maintenance, water pipes were broken and damaged and other issues ledthe projects have been abandoned,” Thuan said.

Tran Cong Son, a resident from village No 4 said many households had spent alot of money drilling wells to get water for daily use.

Thuan also said provincial officials checked all abandoned projects in thecommune and promised to supply funds for repair.

Recently, each village was installed with a water pipe system but it would bealso left unused as the previous projects if it was not carefully maintained,said Thuan.

According to Pham Ngoc Binh, deputy director of the provincial Centre for RuralWater Supply and Environmental Sanitation, 20 projects operate inefficientlyand another 20 were seriously damaged beyond repair, located in Buon Don, BuonHo, Ea H’leo, Ea Súp, Krong Ana, Krong Bong, M’Drak districts and Buon Ma ThuotCity.

ꦯ “We propose to demolish all these 20 serious damaged works because it couldwaste a lot of money to repair them and they could not operate well afterwards.Some other projects are also in difficulty due to lack of funds,” Binh said.-VNS/VNA