Major Water Pipeline in Hanoi Breaks Again, Affecting Thousands of Lives

A water pipeline in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi broke on July 21, the 11th incident since the first operation in 2008, disrupting the daily lives of more than 70,000 people in the districts of Hoang Mai, Thanh Xuan, North Tu Liem and South Tu Liem. The main reason is attributed to low quality of the China-sourced pipeline bringing water from China-originated Da River, state media reported on July 22. The incidents have caused leakage of 1.3 million cubic meters of water and the repair costs VND10 billion ($458,715), causing impacts on the life of more than 70,000 households in the districts. Regarding the repeated cases, the Ministry of Public Security has probed seven defendants from Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation (Vinaconex), the investor of the water pipeline project, for involving in the water pipeline breach. Costing VND1.5 trillion ($69.44 million), Vinaconex-invested Song Da water project has capacity of 300,000 cubic meters (cu.m)/day was put into operation in 2008. Hanoi’s water supply is about 900,000 cu.m/day. The city will lack between 40,000 cubic meters and 60,000 cu.m/day in this summer. To ensure better water supply, Hanoi’s authorities have asked Vinaconex to invest in the second water pipeline project to bring water from Da river. In another move, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved a credit package worth $230 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to build a system using water from the Da river to serve residents in Hanoi’s outlying districts. (Cong An Nhan Dan - People’s Police July 22 p1, VnExpress.net July 22, www.tienphong.vn July 21)