MEKONG PROJECT 4 ON WATER GOVERNANCE Challenge Program for Water and Food Mekong

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS:

POLICIES AND ADMINISTRATIVE MECHANISMS FOR WATER

GOVERNANCE IN THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

Le Duc Nam1, Bui Tuan Hai1, Dao Trong Tu1, Sokhem Pech2 1Centre for Sustainable Water Resources and Development and Climate Change Adaptation, Vietnam

2Mekong Program on Water Environment and Resilience

July 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES iii

LIST OF FIGURES iii

LIST OF APPENDIXE iii

LIST OF ACRONYMS iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT v

1.0 INTRODUCTION TO MEKONG WATER GOVERNANCE 1

2.0 WATER GOVERNANCE IN VIETNAM 2

2.1 WATER STORAGE INFRASTRUCTURE 2

2.2 STATUS OF HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT 4

3.0 ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORKS 6

3.1 LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENT RELATING TO HYDROPOWER AND ITS IMPACTS 6

3.2 SUMMARY OF RELEVANT LAWS, REGULATIONS, POLICIES AND PLANS 10

CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS- WATER OWNERSHIP 10

LAW ON WATER RESOURCES 10

LAW ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 2005 11

LAW ON LAND 12

LAW ON FISHERIES 12

LAW ON FOREST PROTECTION AND DEVELOPMENT. 13

INVESTMENT LAW 13

ELECTRICITY LAW 13

VIETNAM’S NATIONAL POWER DEVELOPMENT PLANNING 13

4.0 INSTITUTIONS AND ACTORS 20

4.1 MULTI-LATERAL AGENCIES (ADB, WORLD BANK) 18

4.2 PRIVATE DEVELOPERS/SECTOR 18

4.3 STATE ACTORS 19

4.4 FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF RELEVANT AGENCIES 21

4.4.1 MINISTRIES AND NATIONAL-LEVEL AGENCIES 21

4.4.2 OTHER RELEVANT INSTITUTIONS 31

PROVINCIAL-LEVEL AGENCIES 35

4.4.3 ADMINISTRATIVE (DECISION MAKING AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT) PROCESSES 38

4.5 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS RELATED TO WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND THEIR OUTCOMES 39

4.5.1 ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY 39

4.5.2 HUMAN RESOURCES AND CAPACITY 42

4.5.3 FINANCIAL RESOURCES 43

4.5.4 TECHNOLOGICAL RESOURCES 46

5.0 NON-STATE ACTORS 47

5.1 EXTERNAL INFLUENCES IN IMPLEMENTING NATIONAL LAWS AND POLICIES 48

5.2 SOCIAL ACTIVISM 48

6.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION FOR FURTHER FOLLOW-UP 48

7.0 REFERENCES 50

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Estimated water demand in Vietnam in the years 2010, 2020 (in billion cubic meters) 3 Table 2: Hydropower plants in the main river basins in Vietnam 4 Table 3: Key natural resources policy instruments relevant to Water, Hydropower Development and Livelihood in the Study site 15 Table 4: Investment in hydropower development, VND (Billion) 19 Table 5: Ministries involved in water management and their functions and responsibilities 34 Table 6: Investment budget under management by MARD (2002-2007) (Unit: billion VND) 44

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Water resources management arrangement in Vietnam 20 Figure 2: Organizational chart of Electricity Vietnam 31 Figure 3: Organizational structure for the committee of ethnic minorities 34 Figure 4: Hydraulic works management system 37 Figure 5: Cycle of processes in decision-making and policy development 38

LIST OF APPENDIXES

Appendix 1: List of hydropower projects operating in 2011-2020 51 Appendix 2: Proposed hydropower projects operating in 2021-2030 55 Appendix 3: List of medium and small hydropower projects 58

LIST OF ACRONYMS

Acronym Description

ADB Asian Development Bank

AFD Agenda Francaise de Development

CIDA Canadian International Development Agency

CC Climate Change

CPC/DPC Commune People’s Committee/ District People’s Committee

DARD Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development

DANIDA Danish International Development Agency

DoNRE Provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment

DWRM Department of Water Resources Management (MoNRE)

DWR Directorate of Water Resources ( MARD)

DoPI Provincial Department of Planning and Investment

DoF Provincial Department of Finance

DoST Provincial Department of Science & Technology

DoTI Department of Trade and Industry

EVN Electricity of Vietnam

GOV Government of Vietnam

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GWP Global Water Partnership

ICID International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage

ICOLD International Commission on Large Dams

IDMC Irrigation & Drainage Management Companies

I&D Irrigation and Drainage

IMC Irrigation& Drainage Company

IWRM Integrated Water Resources Management

IWRP Institute of Water Resources Planning

JICA Japanese International Cooperation Agency

JIBIC Japanese Bank for International Cooperation

FAO Food & Agriculture Organization

LWR Law on Water Resources

MARD Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development

MOC Ministry of Construction

MOET Ministry of Education and Training

MOF Ministry of Finance

MOH Ministry of Health

MOTI Ministry of Trade & Industry

MoNRE Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

MoT Ministry of Transport

MoST Ministry of Science and Technology

MPI Ministry of Planning and Investment

MOLISA Ministry of Labor, Invalid and Society

MRC Mekong River Commission

PC/PPC People’s Committee/Provincial People’s Committee

RBO River Basin Organization

RBPMB River Basin Planning Management Board

SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

SEDP Socio-Economic Development Plan

TA Technical Assistance

UNDP United Nation Development Program

VNWP Vietnam Water Partnership

VEPF Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund

WB World Bank

WCD World Commission on Dams

WUA Water Users Associations

WUO Water Users Organizations

WU Water User

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The study on Water Governance in Vietnam is one of the five study outputs prepared for the Mekong Project 4 on Water Governance. This study was financed by the CPWF, and carried out by a team consisting of senior specialists from the Institute of Water Resources Planning, Institute of Energy, and Vietnam National commission on Irrigation and Drainage (VNCID). This report was prepared by Mr. Le Duc Nam (Team leader), Dr. Pham Xuan Su (Institutional specialist), Mr. Bui Tuan Hai (Water resource planning) and Mr. Nguyen Tien Long (Energy specialist). The study team would like to express its sincere gratitude to the Department of Water Resources Management (MoNRE), Institute of Water Resource Planning, VNCID and CEWAREC for their invaluable support. The team is equally grateful to officials of the People’s Committee, DARD, DoNRE, IMC of Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces, and the Yaly hydropower company for their cooperation and guidance. The team is also thankful to Ms. Himesha Ranamkhaar for her comments on the draft report.

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1.0 INTRODUCTION TO MEKONG WATER GOVERNANCE

Development of the unexploited hydroelectric potential of the mainstream Mekong River and its tributary systems has become a significant strategic issue in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). With an estimated hydropower potential of 30,000 MW, dam development in the Mekong River Basin (MRB), will meet a significant portion of the region’s energy demand, which is expected to increase by 7 percent a year over the next 20 years. A strong demand for electricity comes from the rapidly industrializing countries of China, Thailand and Vietnam, and electricity supplied from the hydropower sector is expected to drive growth in industries and national economies in the region. Recognizing the high revenue generating potential of hydropower, countries in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) have committed to the development of their vast water resources. Lao PDR itself has signed over 60 Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) for mainstream Mekong and tributary projects. Cambodia has developed a master plan, which plans to generate 5,300 MW of electricity from 14 projects. Vietnam’s Hydropower Master Plan aims to develop 2,500 MW of electricity over the next decade. These countries have oriented their investment regimes to facilitate greater involvement of private sector in the energy industry, in order to augment GDP growth and economic development. During the past decade, private investors in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Russia have also become involved in hydropower plans in the region. The process of building large dams in the MRB, however, is complicated by the highly interdependent linkages that exist between the Mekong River system, and natural resources and livelihoods in the region. Costs and benefits of dam construction on livelihood options, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity, transportation and other sectors have not been comprehensively evaluated to date. Over 65 million people in the region depend on the Mekong River system and its tributaries for livelihoods, and construction of dams for electricity generation can have a profound and lasting impact on people’s livelihoods and ecosystems. As a result, hydropower development in the MRB has become a subject of heated debate in the region. Water and hydropower decision-making, planning and implementation in the region are considered to be ineffective by many actors. Efforts by regional organizations, such as the Mekong River Commission (MRC), to facilitate dialogue and inform local governments of the likely impacts of dams have had a little impact on patterns of dam development. Water governance refers to the way in which power is organized, shared, and negotiated in society; and interactions and decision-making processes involved in how water resources are to be developed and utilized; and the distribution of benefits and the involuntary risks from doing so. This includes political, administrative, and policy structures, both at the formal and informal levels that are embedded in and influence decision-making and management practices. It also considers the processes of shaping agendas, designs of institutions, and implementation of policies and practices, for day-to-day management of water. In the Mekong Region, inequitable development of water resources has the potential to threaten livelihoods that depend on them. Large-scale investment in water infrastructure, such as hydropower and irrigation, can generate large profits for private firms at the expense of livelihood and resource security to a majority of the region’s population. Limited interest and accountability of the public sector can particularly lead to the marginalization of women, ethnic groups and other vulnerable populations, creating insecure and uncertain futures.

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2.0 WATER GOVERNANCE IN VIETNAM

Vietnam is located in a monsoon tropical zone, receiving plenty of sunlight as well as rainfall. The potential of water resources in the country is rather high with an annual runoff of around 847 billion m3, of which 327 billion m3 is generated within the country and 520 billion m3 comes from neighboring countries. Besides surface water sources, underground water sources also have a dynamic source potential of 195,000,000 m3 a day. However, water resources distribution is very uneven, both in space and time. Around 70 percent to 75 percent of the annual flow is concentrated in the three to four months of the mid rainy season, while in the three months of mid-dry season the surface flow is about 5 percent to 8 percent. Therefore, drought and water-logging are often cyclical in many areas of the country. Vietnam has made enormous gains over the past few decades, achieving food security, and lifting much of the population out of poverty. Over the past 10 years, the economy has grown rapidly, and industrialization process has accelerated significantly, making Vietnam one of the fastest growing economies of the world. One of the keys to this success has been the development and use of the nation’s water resources. Establishment of a legal framework is a critical factor in a government’s efforts to achieve sustainable water resources and socio-economic development. Vietnam has built a relatively complete system of water resource management from central to local level besides promulgating various legislations, such as, the Law on Water Resources, Law of Environment Protection, Law on Land, and Ordinance on Dyke Management and Flood Protection among others. The water sector in Vietnam is facing major challenges, including increasing competition for heavily committed freshwater resources; increasing pollution of rivers by industrial, municipal, and agricultural sources; severe and frequent natural disasters affecting a rising number of populations living in disaster-prone areas; overlapping functions and responsibilities among ministries and agencies; and, duplication of legal documents. These challenges highlight the urgency for the Government to complete sector reforms to separate regulatory tasks from delivery services, and provide effective policy leadership in the water sector. This report provides an assessment of the status of the water sector in Vietnam, and a strategic analysis of the policy, regulatory, and institutional framework for the management of water resources and related sectors. It also identifies issues and challenges the sector may face in the future. This draft report uses documents collected from various Ministries and Agencies working on water resources besides consulting legal experts working in the Directorate of Water Resources (MARD) and Department of Water Resources Management (MoNRE).

2.1 WATER STORAGE INFRASTRUCTURE

Vietnam has 75 large irrigation and drainage systems, 800 large and medium-sized dams, over 3500 reservoirs with a capacity of more than 1 million m3 and dam height of over 10 m, 5,000 big sluices, over 2,000 big pumping stations and thousands of small waterworks. At present, 3.3 million hectares of its land is fully irrigated and over 1 million hectares partially irrigated. Water infrastructure drains 1.4 million hectares; prevents salt intrusion on 0.77 million hectares, improves 1.6 million hectares of acid sulphate soil; and supplies 5 billion m3 of water for domestic and industrial uses. Irrigated areas of paddy, upland crops, vegetables and short-rotation industrial tree plantations are also continuing to increase.

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The former Department of Water Resources (DWR, MARD), made a long-term projection of water demand in Vietnam as shown in Table 1. Table 1: Estimated water demand in Vietnam in years 2010, 2020 (in billion cubic meters - BCM)

Year Irrigation Fisheries Domestic Industry Environment Total

2000 62.2 6.5 1.0 3.1 - 72.8 2010 71.9 9.7 2.1 4.8 7.0 95.5 2020 80.1 12.1 3.1 6.2 10.9 112.4

Source: MARD. Approved in 2002. “Water resources Management & Development Strategy” p.27. Environment calculated from what is left over.

Toward the end of this decade and the next, based on the Social-Economic Development Strategy (2001), DWR estimates an increase in sectoral water demand. The total demand estimated for 2020 was 112 BCM, an increase of 54 percent over the demand in 2000 or a compound annual rate of about 2.2 percent. DWR expected a rapid rise in the demand for water for domestic and industrial use, and also for irrigation and fisheries, but the rate of increase in demand for water in the latter two sectors has been much less than that in the former. MARD has to take appropriate measures for hydraulic work development to respond to this demand. These measures were reflected in the Government Decision 1590, dated October 15, 2009, approving the orientation of Vietnam National Hydraulic Work Development Strategy. In the next three decades, the annual GDP growth rate for agriculture is likely to be outpaced by growth in the industrial and service sectors, but the sector has played a prominent role in energizing the economy and will continue to do so (the country is now self-sufficient in food and one of the world's leading rice exporters). Furthermore, the rural population of about 50 million is expected to represent more than half the total by 2030. Thus, the Government needs a balanced policy on rural-urban development and investment to make rural-to-urban migration and urbanization more manageable. Irrigation for agriculture, storm water drainage, and flood protection infrastructure are the major determinants of this sector's productivity. About 80 percent of the cultivated land in Vietnam is irrigated, mostly for rice. Indeed, despite high levels of rainfall, irrigation is the backbone of Vietnam's rice production and 3 million hectares out of the 4 million hectares of cultivated paddy land is served by irrigation works. However, due to incomplete systems, planning or design inefficiencies, system deterioration, lack of water and poor operations, only 2 million hectares are actually effectively irrigated. Given the projected high rates of population growth and ambitious plans to maintain food self-sufficiency and exports, Vietnam will need to increase its food production much more. In fact, rice yields could be raised substantially. Although paddy production averages 3.5 tons/ha per crop, it could be increased through the use of hybrid rice and new high-yielding varieties (HYV), and modern inputs.

Issues with hydraulic works

� Most of the hydraulic works are temporary structures developed by farmers that often need to be reconstructed after every flood season;

� Most of the headworks, except for those of some big reservoirs, are deteriorating because of inadequate budget for repair and upgradation;

� Pumping stations, including pumping houses and machines, are also dysfunctional and/or degraded, and require high operation and maintenance costs;

� People have settled and cultivated the land near some big reservoirs that cause negative impacts on the capacity of the reservoirs;

� Mining activities upstream of the reservoirs reduce the capacity and pollute water.

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� Canals are mostly earth canals constructed long time ago, and therefore, are eroded by sedimentation;

� Water in irrigation systems is heavily polluted by wastewater from industrial and residential areas; and,

� Hydraulic works management system is poorly equipped, and low in both capacity and efficiency.

2.2 STATUS OF HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT

Before 1945, some small hydropower plants constructed in Vietnam by France, mainly served mining, tourism and domestic sectors. In the period from 1945 to 1975, two hydropower plants, namely, Da Nhim and Thac Ba, were built. Hydropower plants constructed and in operation from 1945 to date are shown in Table 2. Table 2: Hydropower plants in the main river basins of Vietnam

River basin Province River Name Capacities

(MW)

Red-Thai Binh

Hoa Binh Da Hoa Binh 1,920

Yen Bai Chay Thac Ba 108

Tuyen Quang Gam Tuyen Quang 342

Ma Thanh hoa Ma Cua Dat 97

Ca Nghe An Ca Ban Ve 295

Thach Han Quang Tri Thach Han Rao quan 64

Huong Thua-Thien Hue Huong Binh Dien 44

Huong Dien 54

VuGia- ThuBon Quang Nam Tranh Song Tranh 2 190

Quang Nam Thu Bon A Vuong 210

Kon Binh Dinh Kon Vinh Son 66

Ba

Khanh Hoa Hinh Song Hinh 70

Phu Yen Ba Song Ba Ha 220

Gia Lai Ba An Khe - Ca Nac 173

Dong Nai

Binh Phuoc Be Thac Mo 150

Binh Phuoc Be Can Don 78

Binh Phuoc Be Srok Phu Mieng 51

Lam dong-Binh thuan La Nga Ham Thuan 300

Lam dong-Binh thuan La Nga Da Mi 175

Lam dong-Binh thuan Da Rang Da Nhim 160

Dong Nai Dong Nai Tri An 400

Lam Dong Dong Nai Dong Nai 3 240

Lam Dong Dong Nai Dong Nai 4 270

Lam Dong Dong Nai Dai Ninh 300

Luy Binh Thuan Luy Bac Binh 33

Se San

GiaLai-Kon Tum Se San Yaly 720

Gia Lai Se San Se San3 260

Kon Tum Se San Se San 3A 108

Kon Tum Se San PleiKrong 110

Gia Lai Se San Se San4 330

Sre Pok

Dac Lak Sre Pok Buon Tou Srah 86

Dac Lak Sre Pok Buon Kuop 280

Dac Lak Sre Pok Srepok 3 220

(Source: EVN, 2012)

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An adequate and reliable energy sector is the foundation of any economy. Currently, the demand for electricity in Vietnam is estimated to be growing at the rate 15 percent a year, led by a rapidly growing economy and rising standards of living. The industrial sector accounts for 44 percent of this electricity demand, and around 50 percent of this comes from the South. From 1995 to 2005, the capacity for electricity production almost tripled with an average growth rate of 12.7 percent per year. However, this has not met the growing demand, and today, regular power outages are commonplace, even in the major cities. By 2010, hydropower will provide 42 percent of the total national power capacity. Coal accounts for 25 percent of the production, while natural gas accounts for 28 percent. The total hydropower capacity of Vietnam in 2010 was just over 10,000 MW. The three most significant river basins with developed hydropower capacity are the Red-Thai Binh, Dong Nai, and Se San. Hydropower in the Red-Thai Binh and Dong Nai systems accounted for roughly 11 percent and 9 percent, respectively, of Vietnam’s total energy capacity in 2010 (more than 26,000 MW), and 29 percent and 23 percent, respectively, of the nation’s internal hydropower capacity. The Se San contributes approximately 6 percent of the total energy capacity, and 16 percent of the national hydropower capacity. Small hydropower generating facilities account for 11 percent of the total capacity. It should be noted that “small” hydropower does not imply small impact on a river – many of these schemes are quite large [1]. The total projected national power capacity for 2025 is 181,754 MW, including 18 percent from hydropower, 67 percent from thermal (coal) power, 8 percent from natural gas turbine power, 6 percent from nuclear power, and 1 percent from diesel power. The total projected hydropower capacity for 2025 is almost 28,000 MW, excluding imported power. But socio-economic and environmental considerations may limit this potential substantially. About 50 percent of the technical and economic hydropower capacity of the country was developed by 2010. By 2025, this is expected to increase to 83 percent, a very high number. Vietnam has relatively small hydropower potential – a maximum of about 85,000 GWh a year, compared to 130,000 GWh a year for Japan, 320,000 GWh a year for India, and 1,3000,000 GWh a year for China. But it is projected that by 2025, Vietnam will be the country making the most of its hydropower potential. The government’s efforts to increase the country’s hydropower capacity was demonstrated in its decision 110/2007/QD-TTg, dated July 18, 2007, approving the planning of national electricity development in 2005-2015, with a vision till 2025, and the Ministerial decision 3454/QD-BCN dated October 2005, approving the National Small Hydropower Development. Issues of hydropower development

� Integrated management and coordination: There is little planning or coordination between the hydropower sector and other sectors. This leads to unintended and uncalculated impacts of hydropower developments on other sectors and activities, and vice-versa;

� Multi-purpose use of reservoirs and regulatory controls: Currently, there is little consideration of the potential for multi-purpose use of reservoirs, which requires significant public sector investment. There is at this stage no process for considering, and providing for, multiple benefits;

� International cooperation: Historically, Vietnam has encountered some problems with hydropower developments on international rivers (Se San and Srepok). Recently, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos established a forum to discuss socio-economic development issues (particularly in hydropower development) in the transboundary areas. China is also planning many hydropower projects in the catchments areas of the Red River, but there is little consultation with Vietnam on these proposals or their impacts;

� Regulatory environment: Problems associated with a single use focusing on development approach are likely to become more acute with the increasing involvement of the private sector,

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and increasing competition in the electricity market. The Government is slowly separating its functions of operator and regulator. However, a strong regulatory environment, with clear, well-communicated processes and rules that apply to both government and non-government operators, is missing;

� Participatory mechanisms: The increase in the number of private sector operators leads to an urgent need for more formal consultative mechanisms; and,

� Awareness: Awareness about the impacts of hydropower, as well as mitigation options, is deficient and the interaction between sectors is poorly understood.

3.0 ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORKS

Output 1 of the Mekong Project 4 (MK4) on Water Governance explores the strengths and weaknesses of legislative and administrative structures and mechanisms of the three LMB countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. This section of the report evaluates the existing legal frameworks, administrative processes, organizational structures, respective mandates of relevant agencies, and implementation of policies and practices related to the issue fields of livelihoods, water valuation and dam cascades in the Lao PDR. The following sections focus on the environmental regimes that include both: i) institutions and sets of rules and procedures articulated in agreements, sub-agreements, basic laws, by-laws and other “soft-law” documents, and, ii) organizations and administrative arrangements that typically emerge as key players whose activities are guided by the rules of the game of institutions in which they participate.

3.1 LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENT RELATING TO HYDROPOWER AND ITS IMPACTS

Socio-economic strategies and development plans in the period 2011-2015 and perspective to

2020of

Socio-economic strategies and development planning for 2011-2015 and vision 2020 were reflected in the outcomes of the XIth Vietnam Communist Party congress. The comprehensive objectives of this plan are: Make the country free lack of development; clearly improve material and spiritual life of people; create a firm base so that by 2020, the country transforms into a modern industrial country. The Government further decided that the labor force, technological and scientific capacity, infrastructure, economic potential, security and national defense will be strengthened; social market economic institutions will be formulated; and the position of the country in the world will be enhanced. In order to achieve these goals, it was envisaged that Vietnam’s economy (in terms of GDP) will grow at an average rate of 7 percent to 7.5 percent per year from 2011 to 2015. Structure of the GDP: Agriculture (17-18 pc); industry and construction (41-42 pc); services (41-42 pc). GDP per capita: USD 2,000. The life expectancy is expected to rise to 74 during this period, with poverty rates falling by 2 percent per year. Forest coverage too is slated to increase to 43 percent by 2015. For the period 2016-2020: GDP is expected to grow at the rate of 7-8 percent per year with the industry and services sectors contributing 85 percent to it, while the per capita GDP is expected to reach USD 3,000. The Government further aims to stabilize the rate of population growth at 1 percent with the average life expectancy rising to 75 years. The forest cover is expected to increase to 45 percent by 2020.

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Strategy of hydropower development

Hydropower plays a very important role in economic development, so the Vietnam Government has paid tremendous attention to the development of this sector. The National Electricity Strategy Development in general and Strategy for Hydropower Development Plan for 2011-2030 in particular were presented in the Decision No. 1208/QD-TTg, approving the “National Power Development Plan for Period 2011-2020 with Perspective to 2030”. Following were the main contents of this decision: 1- Development of the Power Sector shall be integrated into the socio-economic development

strategy of the country, ensuring sufficient supply of electricity for national economy and social life.

2- Efficient use of domestic energy resources in combination with reasonable import of electricity, fuels; diversification of primary energy resources for electricity generation, fuel conservation, and for ensuring energy security for future.

3- To improve electricity quality step by step. Application of electricity tariffs according to market mechanisms, aiming to encourage investment in power sector development, efficient electricity use, and electricity saving.

4– Electricity development will be carried out in conjunction with natural resource protection, environmental protection; and sustainable development of the country.

5- To set up and develop competitive electricity market with diversification of investment and electricity sale. The State will only hold monopoly over the power transmission network to ensure the security of the national energy system.

6- Development of the power sector to be based on reasonable, and efficient use of primary energy resources in each region; continuing promotion of rural electrification, ensuring sufficient, continuous, safe supply of electricity to all areas of the country.

Following are the specific development objectives for the future: - Sufficient supply of electricity to meet domestic demand with electricity production and import of about 194-210 billion kWh by 2015, 330-362 billion kWh by 2020 and 695-834 billion kWh by 2030. - Priority to be given to the development of renewable energy resources for electricity production with the share of electricity produced from renewable energy resources increasing from 3.5 percent of the total electricity production in 2010 to 4.5 percent in 2020 and 6.0 percent in 2030. - Average elasticity ratio of electricity/GDP to be reduced from 2.0 at present to 1.5 in 2015 and 1.0 in 2020. - Rural electrification program to be promoted in rural, mountainous and island areas so that by 2020, most rural households enjoy access to electricity. The National Power Development Plan VII has two important components: Power generation development plan and power transmission network development plan. The power generation resources will be developed to maintain a balance among all the regions (North, Central and South), ensuring reliability of electricity for each regional power system by reducing power transmission losses and promoting sharing of reserve capacity for effective operation of hydropower plants in all seasons. Investment will be diversified for the development of power generation in order to increase competitiveness and economic benefits. Priority is given to renewable energy generation development (wind power, solar power, biomass power) so that the total wind power capacity increases from a negligible level at present to about 1000 MW by 2020, and 6200 MW by 2030. The capacity of biomass power generation too will be increased to 500 MW by 2020 and 2000 MW by 2030. Priority is also given to the development of hydropower plants, especially those with multiple purposes, such as flood control, water supply, and electricity generation. The total capacity of

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hydropower plants will be increased from 9,200 MW at present to 17,400 MW in 2020. A study will be carried out foroperationalizing pump storage hydropower plants with an anticipated capacity of about 1800 MW by 2020 and 5700 MW by 2030. Thermal power plants will be developed, using natural gas, liquidized natural gas (LNG), coal and nuclear energy. By 2020, the total capacity of power plants will be about 75,000 MW, of which hydropower plants will account for 23.1 percent, pump storage hydropower 2.4 percent and coal-fired power 48.0 percent. Gas-fired power will contribute 16.5 percent (of which LNG power will provide 2.6 pc), renewable energy power 5.6 percent, nuclear power 1.3 percent and imported power 3.1 percent. By 2030, the structure of power resources will change with an increase in the share of coal-fired power (to 51.6 percent), renewable energy, nuclear power, and power imports. Legislative developments relating to hydropower and its impacts

Vietnam is heavily dependent on international rivers it shares with other countries. More than 60 percent of surface water resources in Vietnam are generated outside the country. Six basins depend on water inflows from other countries, particularly the Mekong, where almost 92 percent of the average annual water flows are generated in five upstream countries. Nearly 40 percent of the annual water flow of the Red-Thai Binh river originates in China, while 30 percent and 22 percent of the flows of Ma and Ca basins, respectively, come from Lao PDR; and 17 percent of the flow of the Dong Nai basin comes from Cambodia. The Bang Giang-Ky Cung river flows from China through Vietnam, and then back to China. Therefore, one of the very important aspects of water sector management of Vietnam is strengthening cooperation with neighboring countries for sustainable development of shared water sources. In 2005, the Government of Vietnam approved the National Water Resources Strategy toward the Year 2020 (henceforth called the Strategy), regarding the extension and improvement of international cooperation. The Strategy clearly stated the following intentions: (i) diversifying international cooperation and enhancing regional and international integration on water resources management through multi-lateral and bilateral cooperation programs and projects in compliance with international conventions to which Vietnam is a party or signatory, (ii) enhancing international cooperation with the Member countries of the Mekong River Commission in the framework of the Mekong River Cooperation Agreement 1995, (iii) strengthening cooperation on water resources with Greater Mekong Sub-region countries, (iv) taking the initiative in cooperation regarding the Red river basin and other river basins whose sources are shared with neighboring countries, aiming at the formation of agreements and conventions for international and cross-border river controls and water resources extraction and protection, (v) strengthening cooperation with international organizations such as UNDP, ADB, WB etc., and with governmental and non-government organizations to make full use of international support for the water resources sector, with particular attention to cooperation in education, training and studies in water resources, and (vi) active participation in the regional and international forums on water resources, including activities such as information exchange, experience-sharing, seminars, conventions and other forms of cooperation in water resources. In conformity with its policy, in 1997 Vietnam joined hands with the international community to vote for an important international legal document on water - the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses that was adopted by the UN General Assembly in Resolution 51/229 on 21 May, 1997. By endorsing the UN Convention, Vietnam demonstrated its willingness and commitment to cooperation with neighboring countries for development of international waters resources in peaceful, sustainable ways for mutual benefits of the people of all countries.

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Earlier, in April 1995, four riparian countries in the Lower Mekong Basin, namely, Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, signed the Agreement on the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin (the 1995 Mekong Agreement) that provided the basis for the establishment of the Mekong River Commission (MRC). The 1995 Mekong Agreement stipulates “The parties agree to cooperate in all fields of sustainable development, utilization, management and conservation of the water and related resources of the Mekong River Basin, including, but not limited to, irrigation, hydropower, navigation, flood control, fisheries, timber floating, recreation and tourism, in a manner to optimize the multiple-use and mutual benefit of all riparians and to minimize the harmful effects that might result from natural occurrences and man-made activities.” In 2002, Vietnam participated in the Global Water Partnership (GWP), which started its activities in the country in 1998, when it introduced the IWRM concept to national dialogues and discussed the draft of the water law. With the promotion of GWP, in 2002 Vietnam National Water Partnership (VNWP) was established as “a network which liaises with agencies, institutions, businesses, social entities, professional associations, scientists and water users active in the fields of water resources and related resources, for integration into GWP framework in view of integrated utilization, protection, development and management of water resources in accordance with national laws”. VNWP identifies itself as “having the character of a consultative forum active in the fields of scientific and technical matters related to water.” VNWP activities are of non-profit nature. VNWP’s operational principle is based on mutual agreement. Partners participate in VNWP activities as volunteers. VNWP has undertaken a number of activities and contributed to some extent to the country’s newly emerging cause of water resources management. The partnership has been developed painstakingly and VNWP now has 65 partners, governmental and non-governmental, and about 30 individual members. However, networking is a new activity in the Vietnamese society and is thus a difficult task in operational matters. Faced with constraints relating to organizational arrangement and financial sources, VNWP is struggling to maintain its momentum in order to attract broader participation by partners to ensure that IWRM principles are recognized and applied in the water sector. Vietnam also takes part in the activities of some professional international/regional organizations in water such as International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), World Commission on Dams (WCD), International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), Network of Asian River Organization (NABOR) etc., but its participation in these bodies is constrained by the absence of a lead organization, which consistently takes care of regular work with the help of an assigned budget. As of now, Vietnam is limiting itself to participation in some emerging activities of these organizations, such as, workshops and training courses.

Issues and proposed recommendations:

� Developing an efficient regulatory framework in harmony with international donor community in order to improve and pave the way for the implementation of international funded projects/programs for the water sector;

� Improving the capacity of human resources in the water sector to meet the requirements of an internationally integrated water sector by developing capacity-building programs for relevant agencies and institutions at all levels from central to local, and more active participation in professional international organizations;

� Applying a sector-wide IWRM approach to improve governance of water resources by encouraging active participation in VNWP.

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� Strengthening cooperation with the international donor community for completing the structural reforms agenda for the sector;

� Establishing a stronger link between projects and policy dialogues; seeking to build stronger partnerships and to have more decentralized implementation of projects, improving aid coordination and moving toward program lending in certain sectors;

� Continue expansion of international cooperation in water resources management and hydraulic structures in areas, such as, building institutions, policies to invest in exploitation, management of water resources and hydraulic structures to optimize funding, staff experiences, and management-level and technical facilities; and,

� Coordination of research on the exploitation of international rivers to meet sustainable development requirements of water resources and national hydraulic works, while protecting independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and compliance with the laws of Vietnam and international agreements to which it has either been a signatory or participant.

3.2 SUMMARY OF RELEVANT LAWS, REGULATIONS, POLICIES AND PLANS

In recent years, management of water resources and hydraulic works has been given attention through the development of institutional, organizational arrangements and policies. Until now, the Government, Ministries, and line agencies have all issued appropriate legislative documents on water resources management. A list of documents is given below. The content of these legislations are as follows: Constitutional provisions- water ownership

The Constitution is the highest law of the land. Article 17 of the 1992 Constitution of Vietnam (amended in 2001) declares that “The land, forests, rivers and lakes, water supplies, wealth lying underground or coming from the sea, the continental shelf and the air, the funds and property invested by the State in enterprises and works in all branches and fields - the economy, culture, society, science, technology, external relations, national defense, security - and all other properties determined by law as belonging to the State, come under ownership of the people”. In accordance with this Constitutional direction, Article 1 (1) of the Law on Water Resources further stipulates that “The water resource comes under the ownership of the entire people under the unified management of the State”. Law on Water Resources

The Law on Water Resources 1998 is the primary law for water management in Vietnam and includes in its scope surface water, rainwater, underground water, and interestingly, sea water. However, ‘mineral water’ and ‘natural thermal water’ – no definitions are provided - shall be governed by the Law on Minerals. This appears to imply two sets of standards for the regulation of different sources of water, possibly causing challenges for integrated water resources management. One of the objectives of integrated water resources management is to ensure that such resources are managed comprehensively and consistently along the various types and sources of water. The primary purposes of the LWR are to: � Establish the basic policies, principles and framework for the planning, exploitation, utilization,

conservation, protection, regulation and management of all water resources, for comprehensive, integrated and sustainable development, with due regard for land and other related natural resources and the environment.

� Define the rights and obligations of the Government, water-users and the public in the use and protection of the water resources and hydraulic works.

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� Prescribe the administrative authority and responsibility to implement this Law, including cooperation, communication and coordination among the various ministries and agencies of the Government, provinces, water-users and the public.

The basic principles of the LWR are: � Ownership of water resources; � Integrated water resources management; � Water resources protection, exploitation and use as well as prevention, protection and

overcoming of adverse consequences caused by water must follow river basin plans to ensure that the systematic characteristics of river basins are followed, and not the administrative borders;

� Licensing water resources exploitation and utilization; and, � Financial policies on water resources.

The LWR has provided for the creation of a National Water Resources Council, and river basin

organizations in major basins, and the harmonization of water management and administration. It provides a mechanism for planning, utilization, and protection of water resources through licensing of water use and granting permits for wastewater discharge. It also provides the means to monitor, evaluate, and enforce the Law.

In terms of by-law documents, the Government, Ministries and Standing Committee of the

National Assembly have issued many Decrees, Ordinances, Circulars, and Decisions. These documents cover the following aspects:

� Guidelines for the implementation of the Law; � Functions, tasks and powers of relevant ministries; � Protocols for collection, management, exploitation, use of water resources data and

information; � Protocols for approving national water resources strategy; � Licensing of water extraction and wastewater discharge; � Inspection of agencies and water users to ensure compliance with the Law; � Administrative sanctions; � Water service fee; � Dam safety; and, � Protocols for approving flood projects, natural disaster mitigation strategy, etc.

Law on Environmental Protection 2005

The Law on Environmental Protection 2005 provides a framework for environmental protection activities. With specific reference to protecting the river water environment regulated in its Articles 59 to 62, the Law on Environmental Protection outlines: � Principles for river water protection; � The control and treatment of polluted water in river basins; � The responsibilities of provincial-level People’s Committees for water protection in river basins; � The organization of water protection in river basins. Accordingly, river water protection constitutes one of the fundamental requirements when planning the exploitation, use and management of water resources in river basins. River basin localities shall be jointly responsible for protecting the water environment in river basins and shall take the initiative of jointly exploiting benefits brought about by water resources in river basins, and safeguarding the interests of the local people.

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Articles 63, 64, and 65 of the Law on Environmental Protection govern the protection of water sources in lakes, ponds, canals and ditches by regulating planning and building on, around, and near these sites. Building, structures or houses cannot be constructed over certain water sources or on the banks adjacent to the water surface. Landfills in water sources are also restricted and subject to environmental impact assessments. Any discharge of soil, rock, sand, gravel, solid water, untreated wastewater or other waste into water surface sources is strictly prohibited. In addition, the construction, management and operation of reservoirs used for irrigation and hydropower purposes must be in sync with environmental protection. It is strictly forbidden to pollute reservoirs or dump untreated solid wastes, soil, rock and wastewater into reservoirs. Article 49 regulates penalties for manufacturing units, businesses and service establishments, which cause pollution. These include the following: A fine and compulsory application of measures to minimize and treat waste to environmental standards and rehabilitate the environment; suspension from operation until the necessary environmental protection measures are applied or prohibition of operation; other penalties for administrative offences; compulsory relocation to a place at a distance from residential areas and consistent with the burden bearing capacity of the environment; and, in the case of loss of human life, damage to human health, loss of property or harm to the lawful interests of organizations or individuals due to environmental pollution, compensation must be paid or the offender shall be criminally prosecuted. Further, the water in reservoirs used for irrigation and hydropower purposes must be periodically monitored to detect any changes in water quality, the hydraulic regime for regulating water sources, and to protect the environment. Law on Land

The Law on Land No. 13/2003/QH11 contains provisions bridging water resources management, agriculture (aquaculture) and land issues by regulating the use of rivers, brooks, canals, ditches, stream and special-use water surface land. The law stipulates that the state shall assign such land to organizations for non-agricultural purposes or non-agricultural production in combination with the exploitation of aquatic products; and also the State shall lease river, brook, canal or stream land for aquaculture. This use must comply with the technical regulations of the relevant sectors as well as environmental regulations and must not impede the natural flows, nor obstruct waterway navigation. The Law on Land contains a number of provisions regarding the use of land in coastal areas for aquaculture, agricultural production, forestry and salt making – specifically, it stipulates that these activities are subject to land use planning approval, and must comply with the principles of land protection, ecological, and environmental protection.

Law on Fisheries

The law on fisheries No 17/2003/QH11 (passed by the National Assembly on October 26, 2003 and enforced since July, 01, 2004) contains 10 chapters and 62 Articles, defining the legal framework for fishery activities of Vietnam organizations, individuals and foreign organizations and individuals on the land, islands, in the internal waters, the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Fishery activities are not separated from water environment, water quality and surface water of water resources. That is the reason why the contents in almost all the chapters (from II to VIII) are regulated by Articles concerning the protection and development of fresh and seawater environment. It also stipulates processes for inspecting all activities that damage the ecosystem for water species.

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Law on Forest Protection and Development

The Law on Forest Protection and Development No. 29/2004/QH11 (passed by the National Assembly on December 3, 2004) defines the functions, responsibilities and obligations of State agencies, domestic organizations, households and individuals who are assigned the owners’ right of using forests. The forests have been classified on the basis on their major use as protection forests, special-use forests and production forests. Protection forests, which are used mainly to protect water resources and land, prevent erosion and desertification, restrict natural calamities and regulate climate, thus contributing to environmental protection. This Law provides for the management and development (chapter II) of forests with a view to protecting the natural ecosystem and minimizing the negative impacts on water environment. Investment Law

The Investment Law No. 59/2005/QH11(passed by the National Assembly on November 29, 2005) defines the scope of investment activities for business purposes; the rights and obligations of investors; assurance of legitimate rights and interests of investors; investment encouragement and preferences; state management of investment in Vietnam and offshore investment from Vietnam (Article 1). This law is applicable on domestic and foreign investors carrying out investment activities in the Vietnamese territory and making offshore investment from Vietnam, and organizations and individuals involved in investment activities (Article 2). This law deals with all issues concerning investors, such as, investment security (chapter II); rights and obligation of investors (chapter III); form of Investment (chapter IV); investment domains, geographical areas, references and supports (chapter V) and direct investment activities (chapter VI) in which investment procedures and execution of investment projects are clearly defined. Electricity Law

The Electricity Law No 28/2004/QH11 (passed by the National Assembly on December 3, 2004) defines as well regulates the scope of electricity development, planning, and investment; electricity saving; electricity markets; rights and obligations of organizations and individuals conducting electricity activities and using electricity; protection of electric equipment and facilities, electricity works and electric safety. This law applies to organizations and individuals conducting electricity activities, using electricity or engaged in other electricity-related activities in Vietnam. Where the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed international treaties or acceded to provisions different from the provisions of this Law, the provisions of the international treaties shall apply. The law is very important for hydropower development as it clearly defines all issues concerned with electricity development, planning and investment (chapter II); licenses for electricity activities (chapter V); rights and obligations of electricity units and electricity-using customers (chapter VI) and state management over electricity activities and electricity uses. Vietnam’s National Power Development Planning

From 1995 to 2011, the Vietnam Government approved four National Electricity Power Development Plans (NEPDPs): 1. NEPDP IV: It approved the “National Power Development Plan for 1995-2005 with Perspective to

2015”. 2. NEPDP V: Government Decision No 95/2001/QD-TTg dated 22/6/2001 approving the “National

Power Development Plan for 2001-2010 with Perspective to 2020”. Decision No. 40/QD-TTg dated 21/3/2003 of the Government modifying some Articles of Decision No 95/2001/QD-TTg on “National Power Development Plan for 2011-2020 with Perspective to 2030”.

3. NEPDP VI: Government Decision No. 110/2007/QD-TTg dated 18/7/2007 approving the “National Power Development Plan for Period 2006-2015 with Perspective to 2025”.

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4. NEPDP VII: Government Decision No. 1208/QD-TTg approving the “National Power Development Plan for Period 2011-2020 with Perspective to 2030”. For small hydropower developments, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Decision No 3454/QD-BCN dated 18/10/2005, approving the “National Small Hydropower Development Planning”.

These NEPDPs were examined, evaluated, and compared to a number of future hydropower development strategies, and then prioritized in terms of timing and least cost generation expansion, with some consideration for environmental and social factors. All NEPDPs form the basis for investment in major power projects (including hydropower) in Vietnam. EVN develops most the major power projects, although private sector involvement is possible in theory. EVN or companies under the control of EVN design the projects, construct or tender out the construction, and are generally responsible for the infrastructure operation, once the project is completed. At the project level, environmental impact assessment is undertaken, and comments are sought from Ministries or provincial departments of the potentially affected sectors. Depending on the scale of the projects, they are either approved by the Government following the recommendation of MOTI or approved by the Provincial People’s Committees (in case of smaller projects). Social impacts: In the past, the social impacts of hydropower development on Vietnam were not fully considered, especially the negative impacts on the local communities and ethnic minorities. The negative impact on local communities would include resettlement to less favorable conditions, loss of livelihood, disruption of social connectivity and impact on those already poor (including ethnic minorities). Impact on ethnic minorities: Hydropower projects cause both physical and social dislocation of large ethnic minority communities, loss of traditional food sources, and often loss of water supply/decline in quality. There is also increased pressure on other natural resources to secure alternative livelihoods. While resettlement programs are undertaken, the cultural appropriateness of these is questionable, and the communities don’t get to adequately participate in decisions regarding their future. Above all, the real cost to communities is not fully reflected in compensation packages. Policy Governing Resettlement, Compensation

Resettlement and compensation are complicated issues as these involve an interplay with many fields, such as, social economy, traditional culture, landscape, and the historic significance of the native place among others. The Government has been revising policies to suit new conditions and the changing times. The first policy governing resettlement and compensation was reflected in Article 42 of the Law on Land, and Article 36 of the Government’s Decree No. 181/2004/ND-CP of October 29, 2004, on the implementation of the Land Law. Decree No. 197/2004/NĐ-CP of December 3, 2004, dwelt on compensation, support and resettlement when the State recovers land, while Circular No 116/2004/TT/BTC of December 7, 2004 lays down the implementation of this Decree. Later in 2007, the Government issued Decree No 84/2007/ND-CP on supplementary regulations for issuing certificate of land use right, land recovery, implementation of land use right, procedures of compensation, support, resettlement upon land recovery by the state, and settlement of land claims. The contents of these documents introduced detailed measures to solve these issues. But resettlement and compensation continue to remain contentious issues with many investors already paying higher costs than that signed by the Government. The main reasons are: hydropower and hydraulic structures have developed too rapidly; the land is limited; Vietnamese currency has been depreciating; there have been allegations of embezzlement of funds; and above all, local people don’t support these projects.

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Table 3: Key natural resources policy instruments relevant to Water, Hydropower Development and Livelihood in the Study site

Policy Instruments/

Sectors Constitution Laws By-law Policy Strategy Guidelines

Agriculture and Irrigation

Law on land No 13/2003/QH11

Ordinance on exploitation and protection of irrigation works No: 32/2001/PL- UBTVQH

Amendment and addition to a number of Articles of the decree No. 143/2003/ND-CP on detailing and guiding the implementation of the Ordinance on exploitation and protection of irrigation works No: 115/2008/ND- CP

Approve the orientation of development strategy on irrigation in Vietnam Decision No: 1590/QD-TTg

Guiding the elaboration and approval of plans on protection of irrigation works No:45/2009/TT- BNNPTNT; Decree on detailing and guiding the implementation of the Ordinance on Exploitation and Protection of Irrigation Works No: 143/2003/ND- CP

Fisheries and Livelihoods

Law on Fisheries No. 17/2003/QH11

Decision on collecting, remittances, management and using of charges for exploitation and protection of aquatic resources No: 31/2007/QD- BTC;

Decree on detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of Articles of the Law on Fisheries No: 27/2005/ND- CP

Energy and Hydropower Development

Electricity law No. 28/2004/QH11

Circular guiding the natural resource tax on natural water used for hydroelectricity generation No: 05/2006/TT- BTC;

National Power Development Plan for Period 2011-2020 with perspective to 2030 No. 1208/2011/

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QD-TTg

Public and Private investment

Investment law No. 59/2005/QH11

Decree 108 /2006/NĐ-CP on detailing and guiding the implementation of some Articles of Law on Investment

Water-resource Management

Article 1(1): “The water resource comes under the ownership of the entire people under the unified management of the State”

The Law on Water Resources (LWR); Law on Land No. 13/2003/QH11

Providing regime of charge for collecting, remittances, management, use of water resources; discharge of wastewater into sources and drilling for underground water Decision No: 59/2006/QD-BTC; Decree on River Basin Management. Decree No: 120/2008/ND-CP

National Water Resources Strategy toward the Year 2020 Decision No. 81/2006/QD-TTg

Directive on strengthening the task of underground water resources management 02/2004/CT- BTNMT

Vulnerable Communities and Ethnic Minorities

Law on gender equality No.73/2006/QH11 Social Insurance Law No.71/2006/QH11

Decree on guiding a number of Articles of the Law on Social Insurance regarding compulsory social insurance No: 152/2006/ND- CP;

Resettlement and Compensation

Article(1) governs the powers and responsibilities of the State as representative of the ownership of land by the entire people for

Law on Land No 13/2003/QH11

Decree No: 181/2004/ND- CP on detailing and guiding Implementation of the Law on Land No. 13/2003/QH11

Decree No. 197/2004/NĐ-CP On compensation, support and resettlement when the State recovers land ; Decree on supplementary regulations for issuance of certificate of land use right, land recovery, implementation of land use right, proceeding

Circular 116/2004/TT-BTC Guiding the implementation of Decree 197/2004/NĐ-CP

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uniform administration of land and the regime for administration and use of land; and the rights and obligations of land users.

and procedures of compensation, support, resettlement upon land recovery by the state, and settlement of land claim No: 84/2007/ND- CP;

Cross Sectoral Issues

Law on Environmental Protection 2005; Law on Forest Protection and Development No. 29/2004/QH11; Law on Dykes No: 79/2006/QH11;

Decree on stipulating the sanction of administrative violations in the field of environmental protection No: 121/2004/ND- CP; Decree No: 23/2006/ND- CP on detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of Articles of the Law on Forest Protection and Development No.29/2004/QH11; Circular guiding the strategic environment assessment, environmental impact assessment and environmental protection commitments; No: 08/2006/TT- BTNMT

Decree on amendment and addition to a number of Articles of the decree No. 80/2006/ND-CP on detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of Articles of Law on Environmental Protection No: 21/2008/ND- CP;

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4.0 INSTITUTIONS AND ACTORS

Water governance in the Mekong is not the hegemony of the State or confined to a politico-administrative arena. Strong interests in the Mekong water politics are demonstrated by national governments and agencies, banks and financiers, politicians, rent-seeking businessmen, technical consultants, infrastructure operators, consumers, organized civil groups, academics and international NGOs. Under the current context of prospective hydropower development in the LMB, dynamic interactions are observed among these actors, as they play a variety of roles in the facilitation/impedance of dam construction, evaluation of impacts, and dissemination of information.

4.1 MULTI-LATERAL AGENCIES (ADB, WORLD BANK)

The water sector of Vietnam has received generous financial support from worldwide financial institutions (loans and grants), such as, Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB), Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JIBIC), AFD of France and KfW of Germany, and also from international development organizations and countries (grants), such as, DANIDA of Denmark, SIDA of Sweden, JICA from Japan, CIDA from Canada, and the Government of Netherlands. Toward the end of the last century, water sector was given high priority in the agenda of almost all international donors. They funded reconstruction of infrastructure in the sector, especially the irrigation works constructed during the 1960s and seriously degraded or damaged during the war in the North. Aid was also given for constructing new irrigations systems for expanding the area under irrigated paddy to make the country self-sufficient in food. The donors offered Vietnam billions of dollars worth of loans and investment projects as well as technical assistance (TA) for strengthening and improving project management and implementation capacity of government agencies and institutions at the central and provincial levels. The TAs and other programs and projects funded by international agencies and other countries in the water sector have played an essential role in building the capacity of human resources in the nation’s water sector. At present, the relationship between the international partners and the Government of Vietnam is in transition, as both seek to implement the Hanoi Core Statement. Despite some past efforts in this area (ISG and ISGE), investment by international partners remains uncoordinated. There are significant overlaps in projects, synergies are not exploited, projects tend to be fairly short term and piecemeal, and project outputs are not readily available. As a result, there tends to be duplication of efforts in some areas, while there remain gaps in other areas, and opportunities to build on previous work are missed. The sustainability of projects is also questionable. In many cases, once project funding ceases, so does all associated national effort, as the outputs and outcomes are rarely integrated into ongoing national activities.

4.2 PRIVATE DEVELOPERS/SECTOR

Private sector investment is playing an increasingly important role in hydropower development in the region. Following the Asian financial crisis, new political relationships have emerged in the region. Private sector hydropower developers from Thailand, Vietnam, China, Malaysia and Russia have begun to participate in plans to develop water resources in the mainstream Mekong River and its tributary systems. In contrast to previous investment regimes of multilateral funding agencies and western hydropower companies, which were often associated with various conditions and environmental and social commitments, revenue-driven private sector involvement has been well-received by the governments of LMB countries.

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Investment in hydropower in Vietnam

According to NEPDP VI, large hydropower plants and the majority of medium hydropower plants were funded by the state, with the state-owned Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) as the executing agency. In 2005, hydropower investment by the Government made up for 76.4 percent of the total investment in this sector; its share increased to 78 percent in 2006-2010. During the past decade, the private sector participated actively in the building and operation of small and medium hydropower plants. These investments were in the form of BOT, BT and IPP. The biggest private sector investors include PVN, Song Da Group, IDICO, Mien Trung hydropower Join- Stock Company, Viet Nam Electricity Development Join-Stock Company and Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group. Some joint venture plants between EVN and external investors (most are invested in coal thermal electric plants) have also been developed (see Table 4). The details of investment in hydropower development in Vietnam for 2011-2020 with perspective to 2030 can be seen in Appendix I, II, and III.

Table 4: Investment in hydropower development Unit: VND (Billion)

4.3 STATE ACTORS

The Constitution of Vietnam, approved in 1992, states that the National Assembly is the highest legislative body and Government is the highest executive body of the State. The Government consists of the Prime Minister (who is elected by the National Assembly) and Deputy Prime Ministers and Cabinet Ministers (who are appointed by the Prime Minister). The Communist Party is the leading force of the State and of society in Vietnam. There are four levels of administration: � Central Government � Provincial and municipal authorities � Quarters (urban) and Districts (rural) � Blocks (urban) and Communes (rural) Each level of administration is represented by People’s Councils, which in turn elect People’s Committees that perform the administrative functions at each level of government. There are 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam now. This overall structure provides a very strong administrative mandate for provinces and districts and immediately creates some tension for water management, where the hydrologic unit boundaries seldom, if ever, coincide with the administrative boundaries. The National Water Resources Council has been established by Law to advice the Government on water resources management. The Council is assisted by the Council Office located in MoNRE. Water resource management in Vietnam is a complex affair as the functions and obligations for its management are shared amongst several ministries and agencies to various extents. The functions of various ministries related to water management are presented in Figure 1:

Investors 2005 Percentage (%) 2006 - 2010 Percentage (%)

EVN 12,420 76.4 132,980 78.0

Private developers 3,808 23.4 36,590 21.5

Joint venture 16 0,5 872 0.5

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Figure 1: Water resources management arrangement in Vietnam

Water users

(Irrigation, Water supply, Industry, Fishery, Tourism, etc.)

Government

National WRC

MoNRE Related Ministries

- MARD - MOTI - MoC - MoST

PPCs

DoNRE Related Provincial Depts District PCs

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4.4 FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF RELEVANT AGENCIES

4.4.1 Ministries and National-Level Agencies

Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) was formed according to Decision No. 02/2002/QH11 of National Assembly dated 5 August, 2002. On 11 November 2002, GOV issued Decree 91/2002/NĐ-CP to define functions, tasks, powers and organizational arrangements of MONRE. On 4 March 2008, it issued a new Decree 25/2008/ND-CP to re-define functions, tasks, powers and organizational arrangements of MONRE. Its main functions of water resources governance include guiding implementation of legal documents, policies, regulations on water resources; guiding implementation of national water strategy, national water programs; and taking a lead role in the development and management of national water resources. The role of MoNRE in environmental issues was mentioned in item 8, Article 2 of Decree 25/2008/ND-CP. Its mandate is to:

• Develop, issue under competence or submit to competent agencies to issue environment instructions, targets; organize the preparation of a national environment report, thematic report on environment; organize the assessment, forecast status and capability of environment components in specific areas and across the nation; guide the ministries, PPC in developing environment status reports, and environment impact status reports;

• Guide, inspect the appraisal, and approval of the strategic EIA report, and ensure nation-wide commitment to environment protection; organize the appraisal of the strategic EIA report, and approve the EIA report under authorization;

• Direct and coordinate the survey, identify environment pollution areas in provinces or at a national scale; guide the identification of damage to environment, and tackle pollution;

• Department of Water Resources Management is a subordinate agency of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Its tasks and powers are listed below.

Tasks and powers

1. To submit to the Minister legal documents, mechanisms, policies in the Ministry’s management in water resources field; to instruct, inspect and arrange the implementation after approval.

2. To submit to the Minister strategies, development planning, long-term, five-year and annual plans on water resources; to instruct, inspect and arrange the implementation after approval. To submit to the Minister the methods of water resources use to maintain sustainable development and serve multiple purposes; to offer solutions for the protection, prevention and control of water resources’ degradation and exhaustion, and respond to the impacts on water resources caused by the climate change; to instruct, inspect and arrange the implementation after approval.

3. To take the lead in developing regulations on basic standards, national standards, national technique norms, unit price and cost recovery norm in water resources; to instruct, inspect and arrange the implementation after promulgation.

4. To submit to the Minister the decision on water resources directory categories; to gather statistics and records relating to water resources, and store this information and figures; to provide information and figures about water resources based on the regulation; to periodically report to the Minister the statistic norms of water resources as regulated.

5. To submit to the Minister the guidelines and policies on international cooperation with regional nations, which have the same sources of water; the regulations on information exchange related to international water resources; the recommendation of implementation after approval.

6. To submit to the Minister the orders and procedures for settling water supply disputes; to take the lead and cooperate with related organizations to settle the disputes on water supply.

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7. To submit to the Minister the draft regulation on the supervision of water resources exploitation and use; to identify and provide information about the threshold of water exploitation in rivers and aquifers, water storage areas, restriction areas of groundwater; to instruct, inspect the implementation after approval; to implement the supervision of water resources exploitation and use.

8. To submit to the Minister the plans for proper allocation of water resources among industries and local areas, based on territories and the whole country; to arrange the implementation after approval.

9. To submit to the Minister, or on behalf of the Minister, to issue, revoke the licenses in water resources; to instruct the local authorities on licenses, and inspect the licenses issued.

10. To submit to the Minister programs and projects in water resources; to assess, accept and synthesize the results; to store the documents of results.

11. To cooperate with related agencies to develop mechanisms, policies, taxes, charges, fees; to identify incomes and economic incentives from the exploitation, use and protection of water resources; to instruct, inspect the implementation after approval.

12. To assess the planning of water exploitation, use, water-shifting projects between basins developed by ministries, industries and local authorities.

13. To arrange the application of the advances in science and technology to water resources; to develop and maintain information systems, national dataset on water resources; to support various sectors in developing and planning water use.

14. To instruct the localities about the professional knowledge and proficiencies needed for water resources management; to inspect organizations and individuals implementing the regulations in water resources.

15. To cooperate with the Department of Inspection of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in the inspection of water resources.

16. To implement international treaties in water resources fields, which Vietnam signed or committed to implement; to carry out international cooperation projects, scientific research projects, programs and other projects related to water resources assigned by the Minister.

17. To organize the dissemination of the Law on water resources and instruct organizations and people to follow the Law; to participate in training personnel and staff in water resources as assigned by Minister.

18. To be the Office of the National Water Resources Council. 19. To manage financial resources and assets belonging to the Department; to manage financing and

accounting of the Department’s subordinate agencies as regulated by the law. 20. To implement the administrative reforms in accordance with the Ministry’s programs and plans or

as assigned by the Minister. 21. To manage and organize the Department’s personnel and staff in accordance with the Ministry’s

devolution and regulations of the law 22. To do periodical and unexpected reports on the implementation of assigned tasks. 23. To implement other tasks assigned by Minister.

Organizational structure 1. Management Board: The Department's leadership constitutes of one Director General and several Deputy Director Generals. The Director General is responsible to the Minister for implementing tasks assigned by the Minister and for regulating specific functions, tasks and powers of the Department's subordinate agencies and working procedures for the Department itself. The Deputy Directors General are responsible to the Director General for tasks assigned by the Director General.

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2. Functional divisions: a) Division of Planning and Synthesis; b) Division of Science, Technology and International Cooperation; c) Division of Legislation and Policies on Water Resources; d) Division of Water Resources Investigation and Supervision Management; e) Division of Water Resources Planning and Exploitation Management; f) Department Office. 3. Sub-organizations: a) Centre for Water Resources Technology; b) Centre for Water Resources Assessment and Consultancy; c) Centre for Water Resources Information and Economics. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD)

Government issued a new decree, 01/2008/ND-CP dated 3 January, 2008, to re-define the functions, tasks, powers and organizational arrangements of MARD. According to this decree, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is a governmental agency, which performs the function of state management in the domains of agriculture, forestry, salt-making, fisheries, irrigation and rural development throughout the country and performs the state management of public services in the domains falling within its management scope. In term of hydropower management, MARD’ responsibilities are as follow:

• Provide comments on hydropower development planning prepared by EVN

• Provide comments on allocation of hydropower plants;

• Preside over cooperation with related agencies to decide the regulation of water flow from hydropower reservoirs for lower water users during the dry season;

• Participate in preparing operational rules for cascades of hydropower plants and supervise their operations. In term of livelihood, MARD’s responsibilities are indicated in item 10, Article 2 of Government Decree No 1: a) To act as the sole agency responsible for submitting to the Government mechanisms and policies

on rural development; mechanisms policies and regulations on the decentralization of the responsibility to appraise programs and projects on the resettlement of rural inhabitants;

b) To synthesize and submit to the Prime Minister for approval economic restructuring plans, integrated rural development programs and strategies on the development of rural craft villages in association with households and cooperatives; to direct, guide and inspect the implementation of these strategies, plans and programs after they are approved;

c) To synthesize and propose mechanisms and policies to encourage and support the development of the rural household and farm economy, cooperative economy and agricultural, forestry, fisheries and salt-making cooperatives in association with rural craft villages and trades in communes;

d) To guide, direct and inspect the implementation of settled farming, migration, and resettlement work in agriculture and rural areas according to national socio-economic development plans;

e) To direct and manage hunger eradication and poverty alleviation programs and projects or their components and programs on building countryside as assigned by the Government;

f) To coordinate with ministries, branches and localities in guiding the building of residential areas; to implement programs on building rural infrastructure as assigned by the Government.

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Fishery management: Vietnam National Assembly issued a decree dated 31/7/2007 to merge Ministry of Fishery with Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The main responsibilities of fishery management are mentioned in item 8, Article 2 of Decree No 1: a) To direct and guide the implementation of mechanisms and policies on fisheries’ development

after they are decided by competent authorities; b) To direct and guide criteria for classification of species habitat conservation zones and aquatic

nature reserves; to decentralize the management of conservation zones of national and international importance; to promulgate regulations on the management, exploitation and protection of fishery resources after obtaining competent authorities' decisions;

c) To publicize and direct, guide, inspect, evaluate, sum up and report on the implementation of approved strategies and plans on fishery development nationwide;

d) To guide and inspect provinces and centrally-run cities on the implementation of plans on exploitation, protection and development of fishery resources;

e) To direct aquaculture activities according to plans. To provide for the import and export of aquatic breeds, migration, perpetuation, conservation, selection, creation and recognition of new breeds; to promulgate national technical regulations on, and inspect, breed quality; to form and manage the national breed system and register national breeds;

f) To publicize a list of national technical regulations on aquatic animal feed and raw materials for production of aquatic animal feeds and drugs and chemicals for aquaculture use, which are on the list of imported and exported goods in the fisheries domain; to make national technical regulations on veterinary sanitation and environmental protection in aquaculture; to publicize a list of drugs and chemicals permitted for use, banned or restricted from use, in aquaculture;

g) To publicize the list aquatic species banned from exploitation and the time when fishing is banned; to provide for fishing methods, trades and fishing gear banned or restricted from use; to provide the minimum sizes of aquatic animals permitted for fishing; to declare fishing seasons, and to list areas banned or restricted from fishing, and aquatic species banned from import or export;.

h) To provide a list of aquatic species, which need to be conserved, protected or re-generated; take measures for protecting aquatic bio-system, conserving gene funds and aquatic biodiversity;

i) To guide fishing activities of Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals in the mainland, island, inland water areas, sea areas, exclusive economic zones and continental shelf of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; to decentralize the management of fishing areas, routes and grounds;

j) To direct, guide and inspect the implementation of the approved regulation. Decentralization of the competence to grant and withdraw fishing permits. To provide for the order of and procedures for the grant and withdrawal of fishing permits and direct the implementation thereof;

k) To promulgate national technical standards on quality, technical safety and environmental protection of fishing boats; to provide for titles of fishing boats' crew members and the registration and grant of fishing boats' crew books and the grant of fishing boat master and chief engineer diplomas.

The MARD organizations related to water resource management are:

Central Flood Typhoon Protection Committee

The Central Flood Typhoon Protection Committee was formed after the North’s liberation. The Committee was consistently organized from the central to local level. The Flood Typhoon Protection Committee is chaired by a Central Communist Party member, usually a Minister (previously it was Minister of Water Resources, now it is Minister of MARD), while vice-ministers of relevant ministries are the deputy chairpersons. All ministries, sectors have their own flood and typhoon committees under the control of the Central Flood Typhoon Protection Committee. At the provincial level, there

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is a provincial flood typhoon protection committee chaired by a vice-chairman of the People’s Committee. Leaders of the provincial departments are members of this committee. Director of DARD is a standing deputy chairman and other important departments’ deputy directors are deputy chairmen. The district level too has a flood typhoon protection committee with the same structure as that of the provincial committee. Directorate of Water Resources (DWR) Directorate of Water Resources is affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), performing the functions of governmental management of water resources. It also manages and leads the public activities under the scope of the Directorate. Duties and mandates: � Preparing documents to submit to the Minister of MARD in order to promulgate according to its authority, or the MARD will submit to the relevant authorized agencies. + Drafting Law, resolution for the National Assembly; Ordinance, Resolution for the Standing Committee of the National Assembly; Decree for the Government; and any Decision of Prime Minister, which belongs to specialized management of the water resources of the Directorate. + Outlining master plans and strategies: Annual or five-year or long-term plans as well as key programs and projects within the Directorate’s mandated areas. + Setting up National technical standards, professional processes, specialty, technical norms, and techno-economic norms relating to water resources. � Submitting the national standards to Minister of MARD and proposing to the authorized agencies to appraise and publish these standards. � Disseminating and providing training and education courses on Water Resource Law. � Issuing and implementing the legal documents, strategies, master plans, programs, projects relating to water resources after they are approved and published. � Issuing decisions, directives, and circulars within the Directorate’s mandated areas; guiding how to implement these documents and inspecting the implementation process. � Approving basic investigation projects, planning projects, planning adjustment projects on water resources of localities, inter-provincial projects; and agriculture and multi-purpose water resource structures in the field of socio-economic sector. � Using and protecting hydraulic works, rural water supply and drainage structures: + Submitting the procedure on reservoirs operation to Minister of MARD, which is under the management of MARD. + Submitting to Minister of MARD the solutions for ensuring the safety of reservoir, safe and effective and economical utilization of water resources and irrigation structures, and the settlement of disputes arising under the Law of Government. + Issuing, revoking, and extending the validity of licenses to permitted activities within irrigation works. + Directing the construction, planning, management and exploitation, use, and protection of rural water supply and discharge structures. � Submitting to Minister of MARD for providing decisions on investment, construction, upgradation, and repair of irrigation structures, solidification of water supply and discharge, supply of clean water and sanitation in rural areas. Managing and implementing projects assigned by the Minister of MARD under the provisions of law. � Regarding water–related disaster prevention and response activities: + Submitting to the Minister of MARD the solutions to mobilize resources, materials and means to prevent, combat and overcome the consequences of drought, water logging, flooding, salinization, erosion, water pollution in irrigation systems; troubleshooting irrigation works.

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+ Organizing, directing, guiding and supervising the implementation of prevention of drought, water logging, salinization; and remedying the consequences of drought, water logging, salinization; troubleshooting irrigation structures to ensure water supply. � Regarding dyke management: + Approach the Minister of MARD, who in turn would seek permission of the higher authorities, to approve master plans, and plan adjustment of dykes at the local and national levels. + Submit to the Minister of MARD to issue the approved master plans, plan flood prevention in some river systems within the country; plan adjustments of dykes, which are submitted by ministries, ministerial-level agencies and provincial People’s Committees. + Provide guidance on processes and procedures for planning the adjustment of dykes. + Submit to the Minister of MARD the decisions approving licenses of some activities regarding special, first, second and third dyke level and the construction and upgradation of transportation structures relating to dykes in at least two provinces or cities in accordance with law. + Regulate the load permit and licenses of vehicles traveling on dykes; provide guidance for issuing, revoking, extending the validity of licenses for some activities relating to dykes in accordance with law. � Regarding Natural Disaster Prevention, Response, and Mitigation: + Implement the National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention Response and Mitigation according to the Law and propose adjustments as necessary. + Submit to the Minister of MARD or authorized level the means to mobilize resources, materials, facilities for dyke maintenance and overcome the impacts of flood and storm on the dykes. + Monitor and update information about rain, storm, flood, whirlwind, cyclone, earthquake, tsunami in the whole country; coordinate with other sectors, organizations, localities and Central Committee for Flood Storm Control to deal with the breakdown of water resource facilities and other impacts of natural disasters. + Govern, guide, inspect the implementation of specific regulations on emergency situations needed to slow down and divert floods, besides evacuating the affected people to ensure their safety and livelihood. + Implement the tasks of flood, storm, natural disaster mitigation as designed by Minister of MARD and the Central Committee for Flood Storm Control. � Organize and direct the statistical and database management in the field of water resources in accordance with the regulations. � Conduct scientific research and apply new findings to water resources and agricultural extension in irrigation as directed by the Minister of MARD. � Facilitate international cooperation in accordance with the law. � Undertake administrative reforms in the water resources sector as per MARD. � Manage its organizational structure and personnel; implementing the wage regime and policies as well as regulations concerning reward, competition and punishment; promote professional skills among civil servants under the Directorate; carry out anti-corruption drives, and prevent wastefulness in the Directorate; participate in training courses and professional education for civil servants provided by the Directorate according to the legislation and arrangements of Minister of MARD. � Guide and inspect the activities of non-government organizations in terms of water resources as assigned by Minister of MARD and legislation. � Examine, inspect, implement, and settle complaints regarding water resources. � Manage finances, property allocation, and international funds supporting the water resources in accordance with legislation. � Implement national standing mission of flood and storm control; � Implement other duties and tasks assigned by Minister of MARD or legislation.

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Organizational Structure 1. Department of Planning - Finance; 2. Department of Science – Technology and International Corporation; 3. Department of Basic Construction Management; 4. Department of Water Resource Management and Rural Water Supply 5. Department of Irrigation Work Management 6. Department of Dyke Management and Flood Storm Control 7. Directorate Administrative Office (one representative office in Ho Chi Minh City) 8. Directorate Inspectorate 9. Institution for Water Resources Planning 10. Southern Institution for Water Resources Planning 11. Center for Water Resources Consultant and Technology Transfer 12. Center for Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Within the scope of this Article, the agencies from 1 to 8 will assist the Director General of the Directorate in performing the governmental management; the agencies from 9 to 12 will be the units under the Directorate.

Ministry of Trading and Industry (MOTI)

According to Government Decree 189/2007/ND-CP dated 27 December, 2007, MOTI is responsible for the overall management and development of the electricity sector. It is also responsible for providing guidelines for implementation of Governmental decrees, and for promulgating legal documents in the sector besides appraising national power development plans to submit to government for final approval. The Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam (ERAV) has been established under MOTI to license operators, regulate the competitive power market, set electricity rates, and assess Provincial Power Development Plans. Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam (ERAV)

Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam was established under Decision No.258/2005/QD-TTg October 19, 2005, of the Prime Minister based on Article 66 of the Electricity Law 2004. It was supplemented with revised functions and duties by Decision No. 153/2008/QD-TTg November 28, 2008, of the Prime Minister.

The Electricity Regulatory Authority has the following responsibilities and authority:

1. To establish the national power expansion planning, and power sector restructuring plan in accordance with the roadmap for the creation and development of the Vietnam power market so that the Minister can submit it to the Primer Minister for approval.

2. To establish the retail electricity tariff for the Minister to review and submit to the Primer Minister for approval.

3. To submit the following regulations to the minister for promulgation: a) Conditions, processes, procedures to grant, to alter, to supplement, and to withdraw the

electricity activities licenses; b) The competitive power market rules; transmission network connection rules; dispatching rules

in the competitive power market, electricity supply quality standards, and other rules related to the power market;

c) Appraisal of the fees related to the power market; transmission fees, distribution fees, power market entry fees, power market transaction fees, regulatory fees, ancillary service fees and others;

d) Appraisal of generation price frame, and power wholesale price frame; e) Procedures and processes to select the investors for expanding the generation in accordance

with the least cost principle;

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f) Investment support and incentive plans for demand side management (DSM) and energy efficiency (EE) projects.

g) List competition rules, and other rules for maintaining fair competition; h) Dispute resolution procedures related to competitive power market; i) Handle the participants who violate the power market rules; k) Lay down the conditions, procedures for disconnecting or reducing the energy quantity

generated by sellers and the energy quantity consumed by buyers; 4. To assess the financial support plans for demand side management (DSM) and energy efficiency

(EE) projects of least cost generation investors. 5. To study the activities of granting, altering, supplementing and withdrawing the electricity

activities’ licenses to organizations and individuals participating in electricity activities. 6. To inspect the execution of:

a) Power market rules; b) Provisions stipulated in electricity activities’ licenses for electricity units; c) Effective long-term power purchase agreement (PPA); d) Approved demand side management (DSM) and energy efficiency (EE) programs and projects; e) Electricity tariff and fees, provisions and procedures of power market operation and other legal

provisions related to power market operation for electricity units and participants in electricity activities.

7. To implement the duties related to retail electricity tariffs, prices and fees, in particular: a) To collect suggestions from organizations related to retail electricity tariffs in order to submit to

the Minister for review before submitting it to the Prime Minister for approval, and to ensure the implementation after approval;

b) To approve the bilateral power purchase agreement (PPA) in order to ensure that the tariff determination is in accordance with the promulgated tariff determination methodology and least cost principles;

c) To approve the selection results of least cost generation investors submitted by electricity units. 8. To implement the duties related to power supply and demand management, in particular:

a) To monitor the power demand variations in order to timely propose the solutions for ensuring power supply and demand balance;

b) To monitor the implementation of generation and transmission expansion projects indicated in the annual list of expansion projects in order to ensure that the power development is in accordance with the approved Master Plan of Power Development;

c) To propose solutions to encourage or reduce the generation and transmission expansion investment in order to maintain the power supply and demand balance, and a stable, secure, reliable power system operation with appropriate capacity reserve level and least operational costs;

d) To determine and publish the current status of the PPAs; e) To monitor and analyze the power market price variations together with the power supply and

demand relationship in order to propose timely solutions; f) To publish the annual list of generation and transmission expansion projects in accordance with

the approved master plan in order to maintain the power supply and demand balance; g) To determine the load status of the power grid upon request from the electricity units.

9. To regulate the competition among the power market participants in accordance with the laws and regulations on competition. To settle the appeals and disputes related to the power market. To propose to the authorities the merger and separation of electricity units in order to ensure transparent competition in the power market.

10. To participate in the development of the power market with foreign countries and cross-border power trading.

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11. To internationally cooperate in the field of electricity regulation and power market development, in the activities related to regional power grid connection and regional power market development for the GSM and ASEAN countries.

12. To organize the study and application of the scientific and technological advances to the electricity regulation activities.

13. To organize training and human resource development to meet the requirements of the electricity regulation activities and market operation during the development stages of the power market.

14. To prepare annual reports on electricity regulation activities and power market operation in accordance with regulations.

15. To use the allocated state budget, the amount of license fees received, regulation fees and other fees in accordance with laws and regulations.

16. To suspend the electricity activities and to propose resolution to power units and other participants violating the laws and regulations on electricity activities, and any other conditions governing the grant of licenses or the principles for determining electricity tariffs and fees.

17. To relate to other governmental authorities and organizations in accordance with laws and regulations and the Minister’s regulation on managerial levels.

18. To require the electricity units to submit information related to their business activities. 19. To oversee the approved organizational structure and staff in accordance with regulations; to

execute the salary rules and other policies for governmental officials within the management scope.

20. To execute other duties assigned by the Minister. Organization and staff 1. Authority’s leaders Authority’s leaders consist of Head and Vice Heads of Authority. Head of Authority is appointed by the Prime Minister, is dismissed according to the Minister’s proposal, and is responsible to the Minister, to the law for all activities of the Authority. Vice Heads of the Authority are appointed by Head of Authority, are dismissed according to the proposals of the Head of Authority, and are responsible to law for the assigned field of activities. 2. Organizations that assist the Head of Authority:

a) Office (consists of organization, planning, administration, and accounting); b) Legal Department; c) Electricity Tariff and Fees Department; d) Regulation and Power Market Development Department; e) System Planning and License Department; f) Customer Relation Department; g) Information Technology Department; 3. Branches of Authority; a) Central Region Branch of Electricity Regulatory Authority; b) Southern Region Branch of Electricity Regulatory Authority.

4. Organization under the Authority Center for Power Market Development Studies and Human Resources Training. 5. The staff of the Authority consists of the line and administrative staff. a) Line staff consists of Authority’s leaders, organizations that assist the Head of Authority and branches of Authority. It is a total of 90 persons; b) Administrative staff consists of 10 persons.

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According to the requirements and the duties, Head of Electricity Regulatory Authority annually designs and submits the staff requirement in accordance with the law to the Minister for approval. Electricity Vietnam (EVN)

Electricity Vietnam (EVN) is a state company approved by the Prime Minister in 1994. Since June 2006, EVN has transformed into Vietnam’s strongest corporation playing a crucial role in providing electricity to the state economy. EVN is a multi-owned corporation, working in many fields, including construction, electricity generation and business, public communication, finance, banking, and electricity mechanization. The close association between electricity generation and business with technology and training is the core of the Vietnamese electricity industry that enables it to develop swiftly, stably, and competitively while integrating with the international economy. EVN works in the form of Parent Company and Subsidiary Company, in which Parent Company both directly produces and invests in subsidiary companies, united companies, and new business fields. As a Parent Company, EVN decides the strategy and guidelines for production, business, and investment by the corporation. It also determines investment in subsidiary companies and other enterprises besides deciding about the machinery, organization, staff and personnel development of the corporation and subsidiary companies.

Organizational Structure The EVN comprises the corporation, the national electric system moderation center, electric resource projects’ management board, civil projects, electric information centre, and large electric plants. Here is a description of subsidiary companies, united companies and administrative-professional organizations: � Subsidiary companies consist of companies in which the corporation owns 100 percent charter

capital. These are large-scale companies involved in production and transmission of electricity besides communication and finance. Companies with 50 percent of their charter capital owned by EVN are usually mid-sized companies working in electricity generation and business, information technology, mechanics, and consultation.

� United companies: Companies in which EVN own 50 percent of the charter capital, and which work in the fields of electricity generation, banking, real estate and other fields.

� Administrative-professional organizations: the Energy Institute, Electric University and three other electric colleges.

These companies and organizations include; � 19 thermal electric and hydroelectric companies; � 11 electric companies; � 11 management boards of electric resources, electric grids, civil construction projects; � 4 electric mechanization companies; � 4 electric transmission companies; � 1 electric telecommunication company; � Information technology centre; � 1 national electric system moderation centre; � 1 Energy Institute; and, � 1 Electric university and 3 Electric colleges;

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Figure 2: Organizational chart of Electricity Vietnam

4.4.2 Other Relevant Institutions

The committee for ethnic minorities (CEMA)

Functions and responsibilities As prescribed in the Decree 60/2008/NĐ-CP dated May 9, 2008, the Committee for Ethnic Minorities is a ministerial-level agency under the Government, which performs the functions of state management of ethnic minority affairs nationwide, and undertakes public services within its authority as prescribed by the law

Duties and authorities The Committee has the following duties and authorities: 1. To submit to the Government laws, draft resolutions of the National Assembly, ordinances, draft

resolutions of Standing Committee of the National Assembly, draft resolutions and decrees of the Government based on annually approved programs and plans for the Committee for Ethnic Minorities as well as projects assigned by the Government and the Prime Minister.

2. To submit to the Government strategies, plans, programs, concepts, projects, draft decisions, directions on ethnic minorities within the steering and administrative authority of the Prime Minister.

3. To issue decisions, directions, circulars on aspects within state management of the Committee for ethnic minorities; to provide guidance and inspect the implementation of such legal documents.

4. To chair or co-ordinate with Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, governmental agencies, other relevant organizations for formulating strategies, policies, concepts, projects, national-targeted programs, action plans, master plans, regional plans for socio-economic development, national defense and security consolidation in ethnic minority areas to be submitted to the Government, the Prime Minister for their approval or promulgation; to conduct implementation of such strategies, policies, concepts, projects, programs and plans.

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5. To chair or co-ordinate with Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, governmental agencies and socio-political organizations to make periodic reviews to evaluate the implementation of Communist Party’s guidelines, policies and State laws related to ethnic minorities; to submit periodic and unscheduled reports to the Government, the Prime Minister as prescribed by the laws.

6. To implement specific policies, programs, projects, concepts to develop areas facing extreme hardship; to implement policies for ethnic people living in border, mountainous, and remote areas, upper rivers and streams which frequently suffer from calamity.

7. To chair the formulation, promulgation within its authority, or submit to authorized level to promulgate standards of classifying ethnic minority groups and areas based on development level, to regulate the re-classification of ethnic minority groups according to requirements at the grassroots.

8. To conduct surveys, researches, and set up a data base on ethnic minority groups of Vietnam. 9. To chair the formulation, promulgation within its authority or submit to authorized level to

promulgate specific policies on officials, civil servants working in ethnic minority networks; policies on mobilizing, increasing the number of officials, civil servants working in ethnic minority areas.

10. To co-ordinate with Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, governmental agencies, and relevant organization to formulate policies on human resources to raise the vocational level of the ethnic minority people; to improve the poverty line in ethnic minority areas; to implement policies on preserving and promoting the cultural and traditional identity of ethnic minority groups; to ensure the implementation of the right to use dialects, languages and scripts of the ethnic people.

11. To contribute its advice to draft legal documents related to ethnic minorities issued by other Ministers, Heads of ministerial level agencies, People’s Councils and People’s Committees of cities and provinces under the central government; to inspect the implementation of guidelines, Communist Party’s policies and state laws related to ethnic minorities in Ministries, ministerial- level agencies, governmental agencies and provinces.

12. To conduct, monitor and inspect the implementation of programs, policies on socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas; policies on investment and support for life stabilization of ethnic minority people; policies on preserving and developing ethnic minority groups of small-sized population.

13. To chair and co-ordinate with Ministry of Justice, the media and local authorities to promote and popularize various laws among ethnic minority people within its state management; to encourage ethnic minority people to implement guidelines, Communist Party’s policies and state laws.

14. To participate in the assessment of projects, concepts, programs related to ethnic minority people and conducted by Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, governmental agencies, relevant organizations; to participate in managing, steering the implementation of programs and projects sponsored by international organizations in ethnic minority areas as prescribed by the law.

15. To host, visit ethnic minority people and co-ordinate with ministries, agencies, and the local authorities to meet the requirements of ethnic minority people in accordance with policies, and regulations of the law.

16. To periodically hold national ethnic minority conferences so that best practices can be emulated; to hold activities for exchanging experiences among ethnic minority representatives from all over the country to promote unity among the Vietnamese.

17. To honor and reward within its authority or request authorized level to honor and reward ethnic minority groups and individuals making remarkable achievements in production, socio-economic development, security, and for being proactive in implementing all guidelines, Communist Party’s policies and state’s laws.

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18. To chair and conduct the implementation of administrative reforms in the Committee for Ethnic Minorities in accordance with the national program of administration reforms approved by the Prime Minister.

19. To chair and implement research on social sciences, technology, and environment in ethnic minority areas.

20. To encourage international co-operation in all aspects within the state management functions of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities as prescribed by the law.

21. To inspect the implementation of ethnic policies; to consider petitions, appeals and requests of citizens; to prevent corruption and waste besides acting against violation of laws within the authority of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities.

22. To manage the organization, workforce; to execute salary regulations; to train, strengthen the professional competence of officials, civil servants and personnel handling ethnic minority affairs..

23. To set up the annual budget estimate; to work with the Ministry of Finance to estimate incomes and expenses under its management.

24. To perform other functions prescribed by the law or entrusted by the Government and the Prime Minister.

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Figure 3: Organizational structure for the committee of ethnic minorities

Summary of ministerial functions related to water resources management

The key functions and responsibilities related to water resources management of Ministries are presented in Table 5: Table 5: Ministries involved in water management and their function and responsibilities

Agency Function

Ministry of Natural

Resources and

Environment (MONRE)

In accordance with Decree

25/2008/ND-CP dated on

04/02/2008

State management of water resources as given below: Guiding and organizing the implementation of legal documents and

policies on water resources; Guiding and assessing the implementation of strategies, projections on

water resources, and general programs on prevention of degradation and depletion of water resources; exploitation, utilization, and sustainable development of water resources after getting the approval of the Prime Minister. Leading the development of projections and plans for management. Issuing decisions on the classification of water resources list. Guiding and assessing the effectiveness of regulations limiting the

extraction of water from rivers, aquifers, and water-storage areas. Developing, managing, and exploiting a network for monitoring and

measurement of water resources, etc.

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Provincial-Level Agencies

According to the regulation of the Law on Water Resources 1998, the Provincial People’s Committees (PPCs) have the following functions:

Appraising sector-wise water use projections, inter-basin water diversion developed by ministries, sectors, and/or provinces. Guiding and assessing the issuance and withdrawal of licenses on

water resources as defined in legal documents. Implementing methods to prevent the pollution of water resources,

and reviving degraded/depleted water sources. Liaisoning with other organizations for submitting documents related

to international cooperation in water resources to the Prime Minister. Being a Standing member of the National Water Resources Council,

Vietnam National Mekong Commission.

Ministry of Agriculture

and Rural Development

(MARD) in accordance

with Decree 01/2008/ND-

CP dated 03/01/2008

State management of water resources is as follows: Guiding the implementation of legal documents on irrigation and

dykes: preventing impacts of salt water intrusion after a decision from authorized agencies. Guiding the implementation of strategies, projections on irrigation,

and strategies for the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters after taking the approval of the Prime Minister. Leading in the development of irrigation projection for

region/reservoirs to serve agriculture production. Approving dyke and irrigation planning of two or more provinces. Publicizing, leading, guiding, monitoring, assessing, synthesizing, and

summarizing reports on the implementation of nationwide irrigation plans. Proposing to the Prime Minister and organizations methods for

mobilizing materials, and means to prevent and repair damages caused by floods, droughts, water-logging, and failure of irrigation works. Diverting floods and evacuating people. Taking responsibility for craft villages, rural water supply, and

sanitation.

Ministry of Planning and

Investment (MPI)

MPI is the central agency for the allocation of resources; it prepares consolidated Public Investment Plan. MPI coordinates ODA and direct foreign investment.

Ministry of Trading and

Industry (MOTI) in

accordance with

189/2007/ND-CP dated

27/12/2007

MOTI is responsible for hydropower, among other functions. MARD identifies development potential and establishes the operating rules for reservoirs. MOTI implements and operates hydropower schemes.

Ministry of Science,

Technology (MOST)

Created with the enactment of the Environmental Protection Law of 1993, MOST sets water quality standards, carries out research and environmental management through the EIA process.

Ministry of Construction

(MOC) in accordance

with Decree 17/2008/ND-

CP dated 04/02/2008

Responsible for urban water supply, drainage and sanitation - sets regulations, prepares plans, designs, and constructs water supply and sanitation facilities through design and construction companies. Urban water supply and sanitation are its primary responsibilities.

Ministry of Finance

(MOF)

MOF distributes state finances to sectors, regulates accounting, and sets annual sector disbursement targets.

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� Work out and direct the materialization of plans for water resource protection, exploitation, use and development; work for the prevention of, and overcoming of the harmful effects of water in their respective localities;

� Guide the implementation of Government and ministerial regulations on water resource management, protection, exploitation and use;

� Organize the basic surveys, inventories and assessment of water resources in their respective localities under the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the other ministries and branches concerned;

� Grant, withdraw and extend permits related to water resources, permits for using probing drills, for geological surveys, and construction of underground water exploitation works according to the provisions of this Decree and the guidance of MARD; regulate and distribute water in their localities under the guidance of MARD;

� Decide measures, mobilize forces, materials and means to prevent, combat and overcome consequences of floods and droughts; deal with the harmful effects of flooding in their respective localities under the guidance of MARD;

� Organize the inspection of water resources; settle or take part in settling disputes over water resources and handle violations of the legislation on water resources in their respective localities according to their competence provided for in Article 62 of the Law on Water Resources and other legal provisions; propagate and disseminate the legislation on water resources in their respective localities;

� Observe the international agreements, which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed or acceded to; and,

� Define the hygiene protecting zones for water supply and prescribe small scales of water resource exploitation and use.

Each province has a Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD); Department of Natural Resource and Environment (DoNRE) and Department of Trade and Industry (DOTI), which operate with provincial funding and administration, but with technical link to MARD, MoNRE and MOTI. The PPC authorizes DARD to manage all hydraulic works except three big systems, namely, Bac Hung Hai, Bac Nam Ha and Dau Tieng. The current system of the state management of irrigation and drainage by various agencies is presented in Figure 4. Management and operation of the irrigation and drainage systems are divided into two levels: The irrigation and drainage enterprises are called irrigation and drainage management companies (IDMC) at the higher level, and water user organizations (WUO) at the lower level. So far, there are 128 IDMCs in Vietnam. Almost all IDMCs are state enterprises operating under the rules of state owned enterprise (SOE) providing public services. However in recent years, several IDMCs have changed into single-member limited state companies in accordance with the Enterprise law. As a result of the Decree 115/2008/ND-CP, now 100 percent of the IDMC funding comes from the government budget. Almost all IDMCs manage headworks, main canals, and main structures, while the secondary and lower-level canals are managed by WUOs. However, some WUOs manage entire irrigation schemes independently, mostly in mountainous areas with rather small scope, as in Tuyen Quang and Lao Cai.

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Figure 4: Hydraulic works management system

As for hydropower plants, district-level authorities are mainly concerned with resettlement and compensation, the two duties that were asigned to them as per the Law on Land and Decree No 197/2004/ND-CP dated 03/12/2004 on compensation, resettlement and land recovery by State and Circular No 116/2004/TT-BTC dated 07/12/2004 on its implemetation. When operational, the management of the hydropower plant is entirely in the hands of the investors. Basin Level

In Vietnam, River Basin Organizations (RBOs) have adopted the Water Resources Law 1998 as the basis for water-related planning and management. River basin planning management organizations are a new and very important part of the institutional reform of the water sector in Vietnam. Under the existing legislation, they have the responsibility to develop integrated river basin plans (taking into account various sectoral water users and usages), coordinate ministry, agency and provincial water-related activities, coordinate water resource assessment and monitoring, and advise the Government on the resolution of water-related disputes within the respective river basins. The function of river basin management has been assigned to MoNRE since 2008. River Basin Planning and Management Boards (RBPMBs) were established in 2001 by MARD; until now, eight RBPMBs have been established, namely, the Red-Thai Binh, the Dong Nai, the Mekong, the Srepok, the Ca, the Vu Gia-Thu Bon, the Sub Day-Nhue and Sub Cau. They are responsible for developing river basin plans, submitting the plans for approval, and monitoring the implementation of the plans. The RBPMBs are supposed to coordinate with related agencies, Ministries, private sector, and provinces with respect to basic investigations, water resources inventory and assessment,

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and to advise the Government on solutions to disputes over water resources in the basin (but these solutions are not implemented in reality). In view of such mandates, the offices of the RBPMBs are established within IWRP. Some efforts have been made to make the RBPMBs functional. Now River basin management has been transferred to MoNRE according to government decree No 120-2008/ND-CP dated December 1, 2008. The Vietnam National Mekong Committee is a high-level body, which is responsible for assisting the Prime Minister in directing and managing all cooperation activities with the MRC, and to advise the Government on policies regarding Mekong cooperation. The Chairman of VNMC is the Minister of MoNRE. Vice Chairman represents the MPI, MOFA and MoNRE. Other members of VNMC include representatives of provinces in the Mekong Delta and Central Highlands and representatives of ministries responsible for Science and Technology, Transportation, Hydrometallurgy, Fishery and Industry.

4.4.3 Administrative (Decision Making and Policy Development) Processes

The politics of Vietnam takes place in the framework of single party Socialist Republic. All Vietnamese political organizations are under the control of the Vietnamese Communist Party; there is no separation of power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Apart from the Communist party, the most powerful institutions within the Vietnamese government are executive agencies. The Vietnamese President functions as the head of state. The Prime Minister of Vietnam heads a Cabinet of four vice prime ministers and ministries and commissions, all confirmed by the National Assembly. The vertical and horizontal flow chart for decision-making from the local level to central government as well as for all sectors, including hydropower in general, and the water sector in particular, is shown in figure 5. According to this flow chart, the process of decision-making and policy development follows a cycle in principle. Figure 5 : Cycle of processes of decision making and policy development

Depending on the level of decision and policy, the cycle will change. For instance, the NEPDP preparation requires the plan to be approved by the Government, so MOTI assigns to EVN the task of

Government

Ministries & Agencies

Concerned Ministries and agencies

Provinces cities

Preparing Project Agencies

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preparing the plan. EVN submit the plan to MOTI, which sends it to related Ministries and Agencies and people’s committees in provinces and cities to seek their comments. Based on the comments, EVN revises and updates the information and re-submits the plan to MOTI, which submits it to the Government for approval. Provincial governments can, however, plan small-scale hydropower development in their river basins after approval from provincial agencies alone. Basin plans are submitted to the Provincial People’s Committees for approval after appraisal by ERAV, and investors are sought for the design, construction and operation of these projects. It is significant to note that there is little district-level participation in this process and the real stakeholders, the affected communities, are consulted only at a much later stage for discussions on resettlement, support and compensation. How policies are made, institutionalized and influenced can be constructively used to influence processes and outcomes.

4.5 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS RELATED TO WATER

RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND THEIR OUTCOMES

The purpose of this section is to provide a broad overview of the gaps and weaknesses in the existing institutional, policy and legal frameworks in Vietnam to regulate and control hydropower development projects and their impacts. In most countries of the Mekong Region, sound environmental and social safeguard policies exist theoretically to protect environments and livelihoods from the adverse impacts of dam cascades; however, their translation into concrete action has been impeded due to a variety of internal and external forces and constraints.

4.5.1 Organizational Capacity

Weaknesses in institutional mandates

Functions and tasks, organizational structure and coordination between ministries have been regulated by the Decrees of the Government, but there are also a number of overlapping and unclear tasks between them and even between the branches of a ministry. For example, the state management of water resources and river basins has been entrusted to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, while the management of irrigation systems rests with MARD. The management of the reservoirs is undertaken by MARD and DARD, while the reservoirs are exploited for multiple purposes, and water is allocated equally with an eye on protecting downstream environment. This function should be given to MoNRE, but it just gives advice or comments on the operation to achieve the desired objectives. However, it has created favorable conditions for MARD by supplying water in time for agriculture. There is overlap even in the irrigation system, where the right of issuing licenses for water use and wastewater discharge rests with DARD in some provinces, and with DoNRE (as decided by the provincial people’s committees) in some other provinces. Therefore, in some cases, irrigated water destroys the paddy (because the licensing authorities did not understand the status of water in the canal) leading to civil lawsuits. The water sector in Vietnam is characterized by a fragmented policy and institutional framework, with a wide range of policies affecting the sector, and a history of poor coordination among ministries, such as, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Trading and Industry and Ministry of Health. There are particular concerns over responsibilities for river basin planning and IWRM. Links to wider national poverty reduction, economic development, and institutional reform policies and processes (including decentralization, comprehensive poverty reduction and growth strategy, socialization, and 5-year planning system) are also poorly developed, so the full developmental impacts of water management are often not realized.

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Provinces are almost entirely decentralized even though provincial agencies do not have the capacity to handle large and complex technical projects, such as, water resources planning, design and construction of new infrastructure, upgradation and rehabilitation of large hydraulic works, etc. Consequently, provinces are forced to invite central professional agencies to complete the work or return the projects to the central government for implementation. Some provinces in the basins have on their own decided to change the obligations of the hydraulic works. For example, they shifted the main function of Nui Coc, Dai Lai, Dau Tieng, Dong Mo-Ngai Son, and Boc Nguyen reservoirs from agriculture to tourism purposes or for urban water supply, leading to a fall in the system’s capacity. A number of river basin organizations/boards have been established. However, these organizations do not deal with IWRM issues and have not effectively involved communities in water resource planning.

Proposed Recommendations:

� The ultimate solution is to transfer all the functions and responsibilities of state management of the water sector to MONRE, or establish a new organization that has enough power, such as, the General Administration of Water Resources under the Government or Ministry of Water Resources and Adaptation to Climate Change. This requires the consideration and decision of the Government and Parliament. It is imperative to pass a Decree on coordination mechanisms among agencies and coordinating agencies, and specify the role of each agency in the management and operation of the assigned functions.

� Proposed agency responsible for implementing this solution is MONRE; coordinating agencies: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice.

� Develop the Government Decree on the mechanism of coordination between executive agencies and coordinating agencies to coordinate and specify each party's role in the management and operation of the assigned functions. Develop a common Decree on collection, management, exploitation, and use of data. But first, the Decree 102ND-CP dated 08/15/2008 on the collection, management, exploitation and use of data on water resources and environment must be implemented strictly. The agency responsible for implementing this solution should be the MONRE, in collaboration with MPI, MARD, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Construction.

� Capacity building at the provincial level o Arrange sufficient staff at the provincial and company levels, provide at least one hydraulic

works officer in districts and hold training courses on hydraulic works management for staff at the commune level.

o Develop human resources in terms of both quality and quantity. They must be able to access modern and advanced technology and science in the world. They should be properly allocated to meet the requirements of local organization and sectors.

o Allocate sufficient budget for the implementation of training and re-training programs for organizations and individuals involved in hydraulic works protection and management (including traditional management, development approach method and demand management and service orientation). Central government should take the responsibility to host training courses for provincial-level and company staff.

� Strengthen river basin organizations: MONRE should consider establishing new river basin organizations in accordance with Chapter VII, Articles 30, 31, 32 of the Government decree 120.

Issues in the legislative framework

Owing to the Vietnamese legal tradition of drafting numerous implementing regulations, the water legislative framework is generally complex, with various legal documents issued by a number of different entities (the National Assembly, MONRE, and MARD). In some cases this has led to an

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overlap of responsibilities and numerous inconsistencies, the most glaring being the role of MONRE instead of MARD as the competent authority for implementing the Law on Water Resources. The law-making processes and traditions appear to contribute to this confused legal framework. Firstly, the Law on Water Resources is full of principles and policy provisions, which are difficult to enforce per se; although it should be noted that this is a general legal tradition in Vietnam where laws are broadly worded and fleshed out in implementing regulations. Nevertheless, permits and institutional responsibilities are the primary mechanisms under the law, which makes it capable of implementation. Secondly, under the principles of legislative drafting, Laws should be the highest in the legal hierarchy of legislative instruments, second only to the Constitution. All other subsidiary or implementing rules should be compliant and consistent with the laws. Indeed implementing regulations should serve to detail or flesh out the framework provisions of the law. In situations where two ministries have competence over water resources, it is important that these demarcations are clearly marked in the primary law so that implementing regulations issued by respective Ministries are not overlapping. The by-law documents have some limitations when being implemented in practice. Some examples are as follows: � In accordance with Decree 149/2004/ND-CP dated 27 July 2004, MONRE issued wastewater licenses to enterprises and companies in the Mekong delta. However, because of unclear borders of natural streams and man-made canals, implementation of the licenses is very difficult; � Structures and navigation licensed by MOT in rivers, often cause changes in water courses and cause riverbank erosion, especially in residential areas. However, it falls upon MARD to handle these consequences; � The definition of protected areas between hydraulic works and navigation works and roads cannot be clarified because of territory overlaps; � It is very difficult to implement water tariff, because irrigation service fees are prepared by MOF without close coordination with MARD; � Water quality standards developed by MOH and applied to other relevant ministries are not reasonable. The standards of water quality are too high to be applied to rural clean water supply and sanitation in the National Target Program; and, � A major overlap can be seen with respect to issuing permits for discharging wastewater into water sources. Article 24(3) of Decree No. 149/2004/ND-CP on the Issuance of Permits for Water Resources Exploration, Exploitation and Use, or for Discharge of Wastewater into Water Sources identifies MONRE as the competent authority for issuing permits. MONRE approved the Circular No. 02/2005/TT-BTNMT for implementing Decree No. 149/2004/ND-CP. However in 2004, the Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) approved Decision No. 56/2004/QĐ-BNN regarding Regulation on Mandates and Procedures applied in the Licensing to Wastewater Discharge into Irrigation and Drainage Schemes. This regulation outlines the procedures of issuing licenses, adjustment of contents, and the withdrawal of licenses for wastewater discharge into irrigation and drainage areas. Under this framework, MARD has the primary authority for issuing permits for discharge into irrigation systems. Proposed Recommendations:

Amend the law on water resources; clearly identify the responsibilities of state management of water resources as well as the responsibilities of water services management for socio-economic development. Initially, all legal documents relating to the management and use of water resources prepared by a Ministry should receive comments from other ministries and MONRE should gather all comments and send them to the Ministry for amendments before submitting to the competent authority for approval. The Government Office should act as the executive agency for the documents

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developed by MONRE. In this case, MONRE will be the executive agency and coordinating agencies will include MARD, MOJ, MOTI, and, MOT.

4.5.2 Human Resources and Capacity

Human resources play a very important role in the development and management of all sectors. For the evaluation of water resources management, the authorities mainly focus on two sectors:

Human resource management in the hydraulic structure sector The hydraulic staff members are quite advanced in terms of career, number, expertise, capacity, facilities and technology. They can tackle many basic technical issues such as surveys, planning, design, construction, exploitation and operational management of hydraulic structures, weather forecasts, flood protection, and natural disaster mitigation. In 1994, about 18,940 staff members came from ministry offices, while 25,090 were from local offices, including leaders, management staff, expert staff and technical workers. In particular, there were 3,200 management officials consisting of directors, deputy directors of district irrigation divisions and higher-level officers. Among them, 150 staff members were key leaders of departments, institutes, universities, colleges, ministry, companies, and enterprises. Almost 90 percent of the key leaders had a scientific or technical background. By 2000, more staff members were added, mainly from domestic training bodies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Characteristics of Staff in General Hydraulic Sector: � Firm in political standpoint, fond of their profession, experienced, imbued with capacity for management, political theory, foreign languages, and informatics; � Key leaders strive to employ advances in science and technology and catch up with regional development; and, � The number of students graduating from Water Resources University in 39 courses up to 2002 included 49 PhDs, 175 post-graduates, 10,377 engineers (consisting of 2,992 students from in-service training courses, 230 directly selected students from ethnic minorities, 959 students from special training courses), and 271 graduates from sectoral colleges. Human resource management in the hydropower sector

From 1995 to 2004, the EVN’s labor resources increased at the rate of 4.64 percent a year. By December 31, 2004, the EVN had 82,080 workers in 54 units, of whom the number of workers who were involved in direct production making up 66.03 percent, number of workers involved in indirect production making up 25.31 percent, and number of labor supporting production making up 8.66 percent. The qualification of employees varied according to their job profile. By late 2004, the EVN had 315 post-graduates, 17,709 university passouts; 12,967 people with college and high school degrees; 40,360 staff members with technical expertise; and 11,557 people with other expertise. The ratio of university standard/post-graduate/college, technical technology and others is 1/ 0.73/2.27/0.65. Number of workers: More labor force is added to meet the training demand of EVN at technical worker level (2,600 people), technical secondary standard (1,200 people) and a number of people with college, university standard are added to new projects in remote and mountainous areas. Quality of labor force: Training is conducted to promote the education level and improve the specialized knowledge of around 30,000-40,000 staff members in training agencies both at home and abroad.

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Issues of human resources:

Issues related to human resources in hydropower and water resource management include: � Activity of staff in the market mechanism is low, foreign language proficiency is limited,

especially English; ability to update and exploit technical information is poor; 23 percent of the staff members have intermediate political science education, 26.3 percent staff have been trained on management, 8 percent on administration and 11 percent on informatics;

� Distribution of labor force between regions is not balanced. In many areas, especially in district agencies in mountainous and midland provinces, labor force is not sufficient;

� Education and age: The number of PhDs below 35 years of age is very low, more than 60 percent of doctors are over 50 years of age, and work mostly in universities, research institutes and the ministry’s departments. In provincial Departments, there are mostly no PhDs;

� Skilled scientific staff and technical workers are not sufficient; � Awareness of water resource governance issues is deficient in the Central Government,

Ministries, and provincial governments and departments. The agencies themselves have little understanding of, or practical training in, integrated approaches to water resource allocation, development and protection. The capacity within agencies to critically review development plans and environmental impact assessments of projects from the water resource management, environmental and social perspective is poor. As the government role slowly changes from one of developer and operator, to one of planner and regulator, a different skill set will be required within the government agencies, both at central and provincial level. Capacity building is required urgently, as is a potential re-distribution of human resources; and,

� At present, there are few staff members with good capacity in some new technical fields, such as, wastewater licensing process, including information regarding impacts required from proponents, appraisal and evaluation policies and techniques, and a suite of conditions that may apply to particular types of activities to mitigate unacceptable impacts, and monitor and report on ongoing compliance with any such conditions. Staff members working in these fields must be provided with new and updated knowledge.

Proposed Recommendations:

� Develop new training for sectors, such as, rural development, electric specialty, water supply and discharge, coastal techniques, natural disasters and water resources management, etc. Improve the contents of training programs following modernization. Strengthen knowledge about natural resources and environment management, operation, management and exploitation of structures, and economic management.

� Reasonably train technical staff, research staff, management staff and skilled workers. Attach more importance to in-service re-training, training post-graduate staff, and focus on training and providing staff for remote areas besides encouraging preferential policies to encourage them.

� Establish focused on-site training systems besides introducing training according to titles.

4.5.3 Financial Resources

Investment in water resources development is always paid much attention by the State. However, integrated effective investment in water resources has not been consistent and sufficient. Annually, water use plans of the various sectors, such as, irrigation, water supply for urban rural areas, industries, hydropower etc. were balanced in the national financial plan, but it did not compare with the water balance in river basins or inter-river basins. Investment in databases, monitoring, and management has not met the requirements. The Vietnamese government is keenly interested in environmental infrastructure investment, but there are often few mechanisms to mobilize capital resources for investment. The government has been seeking to develop solutions to diversify investment for the environment, for example, through the established Vietnam Environmental Protection Fund (VEPF) in 2002 for the purpose of helping

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localities and enterprises to invest in environmental infrastructure. However, the investment is often not well organized, and the investment rate is still lower than in other countries in Asia. From 2001 to 2007, the total budget for irrigation, drainage and flood control administrated by MARD was 15,200 billion VND (around USD 1.1 billion), of which the State budget was 8,800 billion VND and Government Bonds made up for 6,400 billion VND. From 2001 to 2007, the total budget for water supply and sanitation was 9,747 billion VND, of which State budget was 1,932 billion VND (20 pc), provincial budget and people’s contribution was 5,127 billion VND (53 pc), international support amounted to 1,465 billion VND (15 pc), and credit was pegged at 1,223 billion VND (12 pc). Annual budgets for irrigation, drainage, flood control and water supply are listed in the table below: Table 6 : Investment budget under management by MARD (2002-2007) (Unit: billion VND)

No. Description 2002 2005 2007

1. Irrigation, Drainage and Flood Control

Total budget Annual budget In-country Overseas Government bond

1022 1022 713 309

2491 1303 841 462

1188

4310 1948 894

1054 2362

2. Water Supply

Total budget Central budget Provincial budget Others International support Credit

948 215 648

0 85 0

1700 300 782

0 295 323

2268 439 712 217 374 526

Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Under the five-year Socio-Economic Development Plans (SEDP) until 2010, the Government clearly expects the pace of economic reform to be maintained in the future. Under the sector Plans, following are the priorities for the period 2010-2020: � Navigation: State funds are proposed for infrastructure, and enterprises’ funds for means of transport. Projects are concentrated in the Red and Cuu Long deltas. � Hydropower: Financing source is not an issue for hydropower development. The private sector is involved strongly in development projects and many of the companies are international. Vietnam is also funding some projects in Laos and Cambodia. � Irrigation: Major investments are proposed for the construction and maintenance of irrigation schemes, lakes and reservoirs; however, the financial sources appear very limited. Similarly, projects for flood protection and disaster mitigation (which constitute 8 pc of the total prioritized program from 2010 to 2020) do not appear to be well funded. � Water supply and sanitation: 86 percent of projected funds until 2010 are for urban water supply and sanitation, whereas only 14 percent of the funds are dedicated to rural water supply and sanitation (75 pc of the population lives in rural areas). By 2020, the funding ratio will be 67 percent and 30 percent, respectively. This sub-sector is also overburdened with loans. In terms of the benefiting Government organizations, the striking conclusion is the lack of support for MONRE. This new Ministry with state responsibilities to implement IWRM, attracts less that 1 percent of the total direct support from the donor. Current international investments reflect a strong development focus with an emphasis on works and measures. This level of support under these projects may be quite appropriate. However, it is of concern that many areas of water sector management have very minor or zero investments. The lack of investment in IWRM is apparent in

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areas such as legal reforms, policy and strategy development, data and information, river basin planning, tools such as licensing and pricing, protection of environmental assets, water quality management and mobilization of communities. These tools are essential if the water sector in Vietnam is to operate on a sustainable basis. The coordination linkages between the international development partners and MONRE have also stalled and ISGE is not operating as effectively as it should. As in many countries, water and water services are currently under-priced in Vietnam. The pricing policy is neither efficient nor equitable. In a backward step by the Government, irrigation fee has been removed. Where water supply is apparently plentiful, the current pricing policy results in inefficient use by those who have access to cheap water, for instance in agriculture and in households and industries. It has also led to a dearth of financial resources where the water sector has not been self-financing, but has depended on subsidies. Therefore, more investment in the water sector, be it from public or private sources, must go hand in hand with the recognition that water and discharge pricing is an essential instrument to enhance the sustainability of the resource, expand services, including operation and maintenance of water utilities and irrigation systems, and maintain water resources management functions. Most improvements in the water-related sectors will not occur if the government does not consider developing socially acceptable pricing and tariff policies. Moving forward on this issue, it must also recognize that in a number of situations, full cost recovery may not be achievable at all due to social considerations or because of previous inefficient decisions on capital infrastructure. There may be clear justification to provide water to some sections of the community at less than full cost, and this is perfectly legitimate and a function of water supply in most countries. However, such costs should be clearly agreed upon and disclosed as a transparent subsidy. All international development partners were asked by the Project to complete a simple survey that identifies the focus of their current and future investments. The total value of all the projects is equivalent to about USD 1,740 million, of which 54 percent was for projects solely funded by individual donors. The support provided by the donors also covers a considerable time span. However, the vast majority of projects start in 2006/2007 and run to 2013. Around 62 percent of the international support consists entirely of loans. There are also many projects that were a combination of TA and loans (the loans component was often around 80 percent). Direct budget support comprised 9 percent of the investments. MARD is nominated as the sole beneficiary Ministry for 27 percent of the investments, although many of these also specify the beneficiary provinces. If the specific-purpose JBIC urban loans are excluded, MARD support is 47 percent of the remaining investment. MARD is also a partial beneficiary of another 9 percent of investments. MONRE is nominated as the sole beneficiary of 0.3 percent of investments and is the partial beneficiary of another 4 percent. EVN receives 7 percent of investments (one loan project from the ADB) and MOC 6 percent. MOF/MPI is nominated as the beneficiary Ministry for 4 percent of investments. The PPC of a City or provinces is nominated as the benefiting body for 10 percent of investments. Fifty-four provinces were nominated as benefiting from the international investments. These projects are clearly related to either rural poverty or social improvement, or to urban improvements in larger cities [1]. Projects for the development of legislation and policy received 0.05 percent of the investments, projects for improving conditions of poor people received 15 percent, projects for the development and use of water resources bagged 73 percent, projects for environmental improvement got 8 percent and capacity development and community involvement received 4 percent. Within the projects for the development and use of water resources, there is zero investment in data and information, 0.08 percent in river basin plans, 64 percent in water development works and measures,

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24 percent in urban works and measures, 12 percent in flood protection and zero in IWRM tools. Fifteen percent of all investments deal with social and living conditions of people, all of which covers rural infrastructure for the poor (NTP II). All of the investments for environmental improvement are for works to improve the environment (mostly urban). In institutional capacity development, nearly 90 percent of the investments are for government capacity development, with 11 percent for strengthening the involvement of water users [1].

Issues of Investment and Financing:

� O&M budget is not adequately allocated; much attention is paid to infrastructure construction, not much to management and governance.

� There is lack of investment in IWRM area. � Water use plans of the various sectors were balanced in the national financial plan, but these did

not compare with the water balance in river basins or inter-river basins. � All the investments for environmental improvement are for works to improve the environment

(mostly urban). � Investment is scattered, not focused on important areas to solve key issues.

Proposed Recommendations

� Focus investment on large repair works, upgradation and modernization of existing water supply and drainage headworks systems to realize the full capacity of works, serving polyculture and diversification of crops. At the same time, invest in advanced irrigation and drainage technologies combined with traditional techniques to save water to improve land, and maintain land fertility.

� Focus investment on completing works under construction to promptly increase production. � Invest in constructing integrated waterworks, enhancing the regulation capacity to provide

adequate water to serve the development requirements of the national economy, and improve the environment.

� Pay attention to investment for the development of small works in mountainous and remote areas to serve poverty-alleviation programs, promote settled agriculture and settlements, and solve municipal water issues and environmental hygiene for people in these areas

4.5.4 Technological Resources

A significant factor contributing to an organization’s capacity is infrastructure, particularly in the form of technology, such as, equipment, information systems, hardware/software, and communication systems. These infrastructure enable public agencies to perform their tasks efficiently and effectively, and to facilitate communication, coordination and dissemination of critical information. Investment in science and technology is being accorded more and more attention. Technological and scientific agencies are being strengthened and developed. Present research systems are rather good, and are being modernized step by step. Some achievements in science and technology include: � Investigation and design: New technologies are applied, especially informatics software to calculate and evaluate water resources, to calculate water balance, hydraulics, stability, seepage, hydraulic structures; to prepare economic calculations, drawings, project documents, data bank; and to measure and draw topographical, geological maps, etc. in investigation, planning, and design stages. Some advanced foreign standards on types of structures or new materials have also been applied. � Construction: New equipment is used and new technologies are applied. For example, new technology was used in the construction of dams, such as, concrete face rock-fill dam, roller–compacted concrete, concrete gravity dam, new seepage prevention technology, foundation

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treatment technology, grouting technology to protect against seepage at both ends, new kind of coupling, small hydropower stations, and trickle-and-drip irrigation equipment, etc. � Management, exploitation and operation: Observation, measuring networks, management and operation softwares are being used for irrigation systems and hydropower reservoirs. � Flood protection and dyke management: The experts are applying routing and hydraulic models for flood protection, and the prediction of short- and long-term floods. New structures and materials are being used for bank protection, and three-dimensional models are employed for protection against natural disasters. � Technological resources in hydropower development, fisheries and livelihoods. New technologies and new equipment are applied in investigation, design, construction, and management systems of hydropower plants. With these tools, Vietnamese experts can do all work concerned with hydropower development, and can even handle a complicated hydropower plant such as Son La, one of the biggest hydropower plants in South East Asia. They can also take over the entire maintenance and upgradation of equipment without having to rely on foreign experts. There are efforts to use new plant varieties (short growth period, high yield) and change crop patterns besides using new animal breeds (including fish) and better harvesting and preservation techniques to increase the living standard of the resettled people. Issues of science and technology:

� Flood forecast and warning is still not timely. More technology should be invested in river and weather forecasting models to achieve high accuracy and forecast for a longer-term to effectively deal with calamities and avoid losses.

� In the market economy, investment costs of technology and science are limited, so research agencies concentrate on specific projects. Many scientific studies have been accepted are not publicly applied, because of poor efficiency. Infrastructure for R&D is still inadequate, and does not meet the requirements of industrialization and modernization programs to develop and manage water resources.

Proposed Recommendations:

It is required to speed up research activities as well as the application of new technologies, such as, information technology (tele-reconnaissance, informatics), analog, automation, use of new construction materials, in planning, design, building and management of water resources and structures. The safety of the structures should also be paramount.

5.0 NON-STATE ACTORS

In addition to multilateral and bilateral funding agencies and private sector investors, various other non-state actors play a key role in water governance, livelihoods and hydropower development issues in the Mekong Region. These actors include but are not limited to, academic and research institutions and networks, non-governmental organizations, civil society groups, international development organizations, and technical consultants. While some operate on a regional scale, others are based in individual countries and localities, and are involved in providing a range of services, from research and technical studies to consulting, advocacy and information dissemination. In the wake of hydropower projects proposed for the region, these non-state actors have stepped up their role by increasingly becoming involved in assessing natural and human resource systems in the region, and facilitating collaboration between key decision-makers to realize the impacts of dams.

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5.1 EXTERNAL INFLUENCES IN IMPLEMENTING NATIONAL LAWS AND POLICIES

Apart from the contributions of agencies and investors to the preparation of laws and implementation of policies, many other organizations, such as, irrigation association, large dams’ association, war veterans association, non-government organizations, and even state agencies play a major role in this exercise. Their opinions have made the decision-makers review the laws before coming to a final decision. For instance, strong opposition from several organizations, scientists, and people at home and abroad forced the government to suspend the North-South high-speed rail line project; thanks to the objections of Da Nang and scientists to the basin water transfer project of Dak Mi 4 hydropower plant from Vu Gia to Thu Bon river, the Government has temporarily stopped construction. Most recently, protests against the environmental impacts of hydropower plants on the Dong Nai River forced the Ministry of Trade and Industry to reconsider its plans.

5.2 SOCIAL ACTIVISM

The negative impacts of small hydropower plants have led to several protest movements highlighted by the media, either seeking to stop the construction of small hydropower plants or asking for compensation for damages caused by flood discharge, for instance from An Khe- Ca Nak. At times, the affected people are refusing to leave their homes and saying no to compensation, thereby forcing the government to backtrack on its plans. It is for these reasons that the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) has organized joint working groups to review the plans and investments of hydropower plant projects in the Central and Highland provinces. Following the results of one such review, MOTI has agreed to shelve 38 approved hydropower projects and potential locations for hydropower plants in Dak Lak province, which have no letters of intention from investors yet. The Ministry is also seeking more information and research on 35 hydropower projects that have the potential of damaging the environment or are inconsistent with other plans of the province.

6.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER FOLLOW-UP

Vietnam has limited water resources, which mostly originate outside the border of the country. Due to the changes in environment and negative impacts of poorly managed economic activities, there is a decline in water sources in terms of both quantity and quality. But water demand from socio-economic sectors is increasing with every passing day, especially in the highland regions. In order to develop socio-economic sectors in an effective manner, it is necessary to implement water development and management strategies effectively. In terms of Institutional framework, so far, Vietnam has built a relatively complete system of water resources management from central to local levels. The activities of these organizations have contributed quite well to domestic water supply, economic development, and flood, drought and erosion control, particularly in ensuring food security, by transforming the country from a rice- importer to the second largest rice-exporting country of the world. In terms of legal framework, the country has many advanced legal documents, such as, Law of Water Resources, Law of Environment Protection, Ordinance on Dyke Management and Flood Protection, which are very important for national water resources management, and natural disaster and flood protection. Many other legal documents, such as, decrees, decisions and circulars have also been issued. Despite a relatively complete system of water resources management and a system of legal documents on water resources development and management, there is a lot of confusion and overlap about the functions and duties of central and local agencies, and some specialized legal documents make implementation even more difficult.

49

While this paper can serve as a useful starting point, it is essential to map out the specific functions and responsibilities of each Ministry, Department, and Agency at all levels that are relevant to water resources management. This activity should be carried out on the basis of the existing legal mandates, and should also highlight areas where entities have (in practice) responsibility over an issue. A new framework, which delineates boundaries, should be proposed and circulated for opinions and comments. A clear primary law containing all the basic provisions for water management should be enacted taking into account the institutional mapping that produces a clear administrative enforcement and implementation structure. A useful way of doing this is by enumerating the specific functions of the institutional actors in the primary law. This revised law, like the current Water Law, should not only contain principles for water management, but also incorporate specific mechanisms by which to implement these principles for protection.

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7.0 REFERENCES

ADB 2001. National Coordination for Water Resources Management. TA 3528 VIE, subcomponent 1. Brown, Kellogg and Root 2008. Water Sector Review Project -Draft Final Report. TA 4903-VIE DWR, MARD 2007. Annual Report of DWR, MARD - 2007. Joint Task Force 2003. Final Report on Transition of Water Resource Management from MARD to MoNRE. Hoach, Nguyen Quy 2010. Vietnam hydropower: Current Situation and Development Plan. Hanoi: Power Engineering and Consulting JSC1.

Luy, Ha Tien Luy 2008. Water Review Project- Status and Issues in Hydropower Development. TA 4903-VIE Mai Report 2002. The Vietnam – Australia Water Resources Management Assistance Project- Component 2. MRC 1995. Agreement on Cooperation for Sustainable Development of Mekong River Basin. Shuhei, Seyama, 2008 . Vietnam water resources sector review: Irrigation and drainage. Son, Lam Du 2006. Hydropower Development Plan in Vietnam. Presentation at the Pilot Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Hydropower Subsector in Vietnam Scoping Workshop, Hanoi, 10-12 July 2006. Pham Xuan Su and Le Duc Nam 2004. River basin organization in Vietnam and its contribution to

water resources development in the future. Presentation in the 1st General Meeting of the NARBO, Batu-Malang, Indonesia, 23-26 February 2004.

Pham Xuan Su and Vu Tien Luc. 2003. Water rights in Vietnam. Presentation in the International working conference on water rights: institutional options for improving water allocation. Hanoi, Vietnam, February 12-15, 2003. SWECO GRONER 2006: 2nd Red River Basin Sector Project. Part A Water Resources Management, Component 1: Integrated Water Resources Management in the Cau River Basin. World Bank 1996. Vietnam Water Resources Sector Review, Main Report. The World Bank. World Bank 2008. Vietnam Country Overview. The World Bank.

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APPENDIX I

List of hydropower projects operating in the period 2011-2020

(Attached to Decision No 1208/QD-TTg dated July 21, 2011 of the Prime Minister)

No Name of hydropower Capacity

(MW) Investor

Hydropower plants operating in 2011 4187

1 H.P Sơn La # 2,3,4 1200 EVN

2 H.P Nậm Chiến #1 100 Sông Đà Group

3 H.P Na Le (Bắc Hà) #1,2 90 LICOGI

4 H.P Ngòi Phát 72 IPP

5 H.P A Lưới #1,2 170 Central electric joint stock

company

6 H.P Sông Tranh 2 #2 95 EVN

7 H.P An Khê - Kanak 173 EVN

8 H.P Sê San 4A 63 Sê San 4A hydropower joint

stock company

9 H.P Đak My 4 190 IDICO

10 H.P Se Kaman 3 (Lào) 250 Việt Lào joint stock company

11 H.P Đak Rtih 144 General construction company

No: 1

12 H.P Đồng Nai 3 #2 90 EVN

13 H.P Đồng Nai 4 #1 170 EVN

14 Thermo electricity Uống Bí MR #2 300 EVN

15 Thermo electricity Cẩm Phả II 300 TKV

16 TBKHH Nhơn Trạch 2 750 PVN

17 Điện gió + Năng lượng tái tạo 30

Hydropower plants operating in 2012 2805

1 H.P Sơn La # 5,6 800 EVN

2 H.P Đồng Nai 4 #2 170 EVN

3 H.P Nậm Chiến #2 100 Sông Đà Group

4 H.P Bản Chát #1,2 220 EVN

5 H.P Hủa Na #1,2 180 Hua Na hydropower joint stock

company

6 H.P Nho Quế 3 #1,2 110 Bitexco joint stock company

7 H.P Khe Bố #1,2 100 Electricity joint stock company

8 H.P Bá Thước #1,2 80 IPP

9 H.P Đồng Nai 2 70 IPP

10 H.P Đam Bri 75 IPP

11 Thermo electricity An Khánh I #1 50 An Khánh thermo electricity

joint stock company

12 Thermo electricity Vũng Áng I #1 600 PVN

13 Thermo electricity Formosa #2 150 Hưng Nghiệp Formosa Limited

liability company

14 Wind energy + Renewable energy 100

Hydropower plants operating in 2013 2105

1 H.P Nậm Na 2 66 IPP

2 H.P Đak Rinh #1,2 125 PVN

52

3 H.P Sre Pok 4A 64 Buôn Đôn hydropower joint

stock company

4 Thermo electricity Hải Phòng II #1 300 EVN

5 Thermo electricity Mạo Khê #1,2 440 TKV

6 Thermo electricity An Khánh I #2 50 An Khánh thermo electricity

joint stock company

7 Thermo electricity Vũng Áng I #2 600 PVN

8 Thermo electricity Nghi Sơn I #1 300 EVN

9 Thermo electricity Nông Sơn 30 TKV

10 Wind energy + Renewable energy 130

Hydropower plants operating in 2014 4279

1 H.P Nậm Na 3 84 IPP

2 H.P Yên Sơn 70 Binh Minh Join-Stock

construction company

3 H.P Thượng Kontum #1,2 220 Vĩnh Sơn-S.Hinh hydropower

joint stock company

4 H.P Đak Re 60 Thiên Tân hydropower joint

stock company

5 H.P Nậm Mô (Lào) 95 IPP

6 Thermo electricity Hải Phòng 2 #2 300 EVN

7 Thermo electricity Nghi Sơn I #2 300 EVN

8 Thermo electricity Thái Bình II #1 600 EVN

9 Thermo electricity Quảng Ninh II #1 300 EVN

10 Thermo electricity Vĩnh Tân II #1,2 1200 EVN

11 Thermo electricity Ô Môn I #2 330 EVN

12 Thermo electricity Duyên Hải I #1 600 EVN

13 Wind energy + Renewable energy 120

Hydropower plants operating in 2015 6540

1 H.P Huội Quảng #1,2 520 EVN

2 H.P Đồng Nai 5 145 TKV

3 H.P Đồng Nai 6 135 Đức Long Gia Lai company

4 H.P Se Ka man 1 (Lào) 290 Việt Lào joint stock company

5 Thermo electricity Quảng Ninh II #2 300 EVN

6 Thermo electricity Thái Bình II #2 600 PVN

7 Thermo electricity Mông Dương II #1,2 1200 AES/BOT

8 Thermo electricity Lục Nam #1 50 IPP

9 Thermo electricity Duyên Hải III #1 600 EVN

10 Thermo electricity Long Phú II #1 600 PVN

11 Thermo electricity Duyên Hải I #2 600 EVN

12 TBKHH Ô Môn III 750 EVN

13 Thermo electricity Công Thanh #1,2 600 Công Thanh thermo electricity

joint stock company

14 Wind energy + Renewable energy 150

Hydropower plants operating in 2016 7136

1 H.P Lai Châu #1 400 EVN

2 H.P Trung Sơn #1,2 260 EVN

53

3 H.P Sông Bung 4 156 EVN

4 H.P Sông Bung 2 100 EVN

5 H.P Đak My 2 98 IPP

6 H.P Đồng Nai 6A 106 Đức Long Gia Lai company

7 H.P Hồi Xuân 102 IPP

8 H.P Sê Kaman 4 (Lào) 64 BOT

9 H.P Hạ Sê San 2 (Campuchia 50 percent) 200 EVN-BOT

10 Thermo electricity Mông Dương I #1 500 EVN

11 Thermo electricity Thái Bình I #1 300 EVN

12 Thermo electricity Hải Dương #1 600 Jak Resource - Malaysia/BOT

13 Thermo electricity An Khánh II #1 150 An Khánh thermo electricity

joint stock company

14 Thermo electricity Long Phú I #2 600 PVN

15 Thermo electricity Vĩnh Tân I #1,2 1200 CSG/BOT

16 Thermo electricity Duyên Hải III #2 600 EVN

17 TBKHH Ô Môn IV 750 EVN

18 TBKHH Ô Môn II 750 BOT

19 Wind energy + Renewable energy 200

Hydropower plants operating in 2017 6775

1 H.P Lai Châu #2,3 800 EVN

2 H.P Sê Kông 3A, 3B 105+100 Tập đoàn sông Đà

3 Thermo electricity Thăng Long #1 300 Thang Long thermo electricity

joint stock company

4 Thermo electricity Mông Dương I #2 500 EVN

5 Thermo electricity Thái Bình I #2 300 EVN

6 Thermo electricity Hải Dương #2 600 Jak Resourse - Malaysia/BOT

7 Thermo electricity Nghi Sơn II #1,2 1200 BOT

8 Thermo electricity Y An Khánh II #2 150 An Khánh thermo electricity

joint stock company

9 Thermo electricity Vân Phong I #1 660 Sumitomo - Hanoinco/BOT

10 Thermo electricity Vĩnh Tân VI #1 600 EVN

11 Thermo electricity Vĩnh Tân III #1 660 Vĩnh Tân 3/BOT energy joint

stock company

12 Thermo electricity Sông Hậu I #1 600 PVN

13 Wind energy + Renewable energy 200

Hydropower plants operating in 2018 7842

1 H.P Bảo Lâm 120 Sông Đà Group

2 H.P Nậm Sun 1 (Lào) 90 Sai Gon Invest

3 H.P Sê Kông (Lào) 192 EVN-BOT

4 Thermo electricity Na Dương II #1,2 100 TKV

5 Thermo electricity Lục Nam #2 50 IPP

6 Thermo electricity Vũng Áng II #1 600 VAPCO/BOT

7 Thermo electricity Quảng Trạch I #1 600 PVN

8 Thermo electricity Nam Định I #2 600 Tai Kwang - Hàn Quốc/BOT

9 Thermo electricity Vân Phong I #2 660 Sumitomo - Hanoinco/BOT

54

10 Thermo electricity Sông Hậu I #2 600 PVN

11 TBKHH Sơn Mỹ I #1,2,3 1170 (IP-Sojizt-Pacific)/BOT

12 Thermo electricity Duyên Hải II #1 600 Janakuasa/BOT

13 Thermo electricity Vĩnh Tân III #1 660 Vĩnh Tân 3/BOT energy joint

stock company

14 Thermo electricity Vĩnh Tân VI #2 600 EVN

15 Import from China 1000 Depending of Agreement khẩu

16 Wind energy + Renewable energy 200 IPP

Hydropower plants operating in 2019 7015

1 H.P tích năng Bác Ái #1 300 EVN

2 H.P tích năng Đông Phù Yên #1 300 Xuân Thiện Company

3 H.P Nậm Sun 3(Lào) 196 Sai Gon Invest

4 H.P Vĩnh Sơn II 80 IPP

5 Thermo electricity Vũng Áng II #2 600 VAPCO/BOT

6 Thermo electricity Quảng Trạch I #2 600 PVN

7 Thermo electricity Nam Định I #2 600 Tai Kwang - Hàn Quốc/BOT

8 Thermo electricity Thăng Long #2 300 Thang Long thermo electricity

joint stock company

9 Thermo electricity Quảng Trị #1 600 IPP/BOT

10 Thermo electricity Duyên Hải II #2 600 Janakuasa/BOT

11 Thermo electricity Duyên Hải III #3 (MR) 600 EVN

12 Thermo electricity Kiên Lương I #1 600 Tân Tạo

13 TBKHH Sơn Mỹ I #4,5 780 (IP-Sojizt-Pacific)/BOT

14 Thermo electricity Hiệp Phước stopped operation

-375

15 Imported from China 1000 Depending of import agreement

16 Wind energy + Renewable energy 230 IPP

Hydropower plants operating in 2020 5610

1 H.P tích năng Đông Phù Yên #2,3 600 Xuân Thiện company

2 H.P tích năng Bác Ái #2,3 600 EVN

3 H.P Nậm Mô I(Nam Kan - Lào) 72 EVNI

4 Thermo electricity Quảng Trị #2 600 IPP/BOT

5 TBKHH M.Trung #1 (Quảng Trị hoặc Quảng Ngãi)

450

6 NM ĐHN Ninh Thuận I #1 1000 EVN

7 NM ĐHN Ninh Thuận II #2 1000 EVN

8 Thermo electricity Vĩnh Tân III #3 660 Vĩnh Tân 3/BOT energy joint

stock company

9 Thermo electricity Kiên Lương I #2 600 Tân Tạo

10 Thermo electricity Thủ Đức ngừng chạy -272

11 Wind energy + Renewable energy 300

55

APPENDIX II

Proposed hydropower projects for the period 2021-2030

(Attached to Decision No 1208/QD-TTg dated July 21, 2011 of the Prime Minister)

No Name of the hydropower plant Capacity (MW) Investor

Hydropower plants operating in 2021 5925

1 Pump Storage hydropower Đông Phù Yên #4 300 Xuân Thiện

2 Pump Storage hydropower Bác Ái #4 300 EVN

3 H.P Hạ Sê San 1 (Campuchia) 90 EVNI

4 H.P Sê Kông (Campuchia) 150 EVNI

5 Thermo electricity Hải Phòng III #1 600 TKV

6 Thermo electricity Vân Phong II #1 660

7 TBKHH Sơn Mỹ II #1,2 780

8 Nuclear energy plant Ninh Thuận I#2 1000

9 Nuclear energy plant Ninh Thuận II#3 1000

10 Import from China 1000

Thermo electricity Ninh Bình I( stopped) -100

Thermo electricity Uông Bí I (stopped) -105

Thermo electricity Cần Thơ (stopped) -150

Wind energy + Renewable energy 400

Hydropower plants operating in 2022 5750

1 H.P Nam Theun I (Lào) 400 EVN - BOT

2 Thermo electricity Hải Phòng III #2 600 TKV

3 Thermo electricity Cẩm Phả III #1,2 270 TKV

4 Thermo electricity Quỳnh Lập I #1 600 TKV

5 Thermo electricity Long Phú II #1 600 Sông Đà group

6 Thermo electricity Vân Phong II#2 660

7 TBKHH Sơn Mỹ II #3,4,5 1170

8 Nuclear energy plantNo: III #1 1000 EVN

Wind energy + Renewable energy 450

Hydropower plants operating in 2023 4530

1 H.P Hạ Sê San 3 (Campuchia) 180 BOT

2 Thermo electricity Quảng Trạch II #1 600

3 Thermo electricity Quỳnh Lập I #2 600 TKV

4 TBKHH Miền Trung #2 (Quảng Trị hoặc Quảng Ngãi) 450

56

5 Thermo electricity Kiên Lương II #1 600

6 Thermo electricity Long Phú II #2 600 Sông Đà Group

7 Nuclear energy plant No: III #2 1000 EVN

Wind energy + Renewable energy 500

Hydropower plants operating in 2024 4600

1 Pump Storage hydropower miền Bắc II #1 300

2 Pump Storage hydropower Đơn Dương #1,2 600 EVN

3 Thermo electricity Quảng Trạch II #2 600

4 Thermo electricity Phú Thọ #1 300

5 TBKHH Miền Trung #3 (Quảng Trị hoặc Quảng Ngãi) 450

6 Thermo electricity Long An I #1,2 1200

7 Thermo electricity Kiên Lương II#2 600

Wind energy + Renewable energy 550

Hydropower plants operating in 2025 6100

1 Pump Storage hydropower II #2* 300

2 Pump Storage hydropower Đơn Dương #3,4 600 EVN

3 Thermo electricity Hải Phòng III #3,4 1200 TKV

4 Thermo electricity Nam Định II#1 600 BOT

5 Thermo electricity Phú Thọ #2 300

6 Thermo electricity Long Phú III #1 1000 PVN

7 TBKHH miền Nam #1,2 1500

Wind energy + Renewable energy 600

Hydropower plants operating in 2026 5550

1 Pump Storage hydropower II #3 300

2 Thermo electricity Vũng Áng III #1 600 BOT

3 Thermo electricity Nam Định II #2 600 BOT

4 Thermo electricity Bắc Giang #1 300

5 Thermo electricity Than Bình Định I #1 600

6 Thermo electricity Long Phú III #2 1000 PVN

7 Nuclear energy plant No: IV #1 1000

8 Import from Lao 550

Wind energy + Renewable energy 600

Hydropower plants operating in 2027 6350

57

1 Thermo electricity Vũng Áng III #2,3 1200 BOT

2 Thermo electricity Bắc Giang #2 300

3 Thermo electricity Kiên Lương III #1 1000

4 Thermo electricity Sông Hậu II #1 1000

5 Thermo electricity Than Bình Định I #2 600

6 Nuclear energy plant No IV #2 1000

7 Import from Lao 550

Wind energy + Renewable energy 700

Hydropower plants operating in 2028 7450

1 Pump Storage hydropower Ninh Sơn #1 300

2 Thermo electricity Vũng Áng III #4 600 BOT

3 Thermo electricity Quỳnh Lập II #1,2 1200

4 Thermo electricity Sông Hậu II #2 1000

5 Thermo electricity Kiên Lương III #2 1000

6 Thermo electricity Than Bạc liêu #1,2 1200

7 Nuclear energy plant miền Trung I #1 1350

Wind energy + Renewable energy 800

Hydropower plants operating in 2029 9950

1 Pump Storage hydropower Ninh Sơn #2,3 600

2 Thermo electricity Yên Hưng #1,2 1200

3 Thermo electricity Uông Bí III #1,2 1200

4 Thermo electricity Sông Hậu III #1,2 2000

5 Thermo electricity Than Bình Định II #1,2 2000

6 Thermo electricity Than An Giang #1,2 2000

Wind energy + Renewable energy 950

Hydropower plants operating in 2030 9800

1 Pump Storage hydropower Ninh Sơn #4 300

2 Thermo electricity Than miền Bắc 1000MW #1,2 2000

3 Thermo electricity Than miền Nam 1000MW #1,2,3,4,5 5000

4 Nuclear energy plant miền Trung I #2 1350

Wind energy + Renewable energy 1150

58

APPENDIX III

List of medium and small hydropower projects

(Attached to Decision No 1208/QD-TTg dated July 21, 2011 of the Prime Minister

No Name of H.P Capacity Investor

Hydropower plants operating in 2011 280.5

1 H.P Muong Hum 32 Son Vu company

2 H.P Su Pan 2 34.5 IPP

3 H.P Huong Dien #3 27 Huong Dien joint stock

company

4 H.P Song Giang 2 37 IPP

5 Small hydropower 150

Hydropower plants operating in 2012 657

1 H.P Ta Thang 60 IPP

2 H.P Nam Phang 36 IPP

3 H.P Nam Toong 34 IPP

4 H.P Ngoi Hut 2 48 IPP

5 H.P Nam Muc 44 IPP

6 H.P Van Chan 57 IPP

7 H.P Song Bung 4A 49 IPP

8 H.P Song Tranh 3 62 IPP

9 H.P Nho Que 1 32 IPP

10 H.P Chiem Hoa 48 IPP

11 H.P Song Bung 5 49 IPP

12 Small hydropower 138

Hydropower plants operating in 2013 401.5

1 H.P Ba Thuoc I 60 IPP

2 H.P Nam Pan 5 34.5 IPP

3 H.P Nam Cun 40 IPP

4 H.P Song Bac 42 IPP

5 H.P Nhac Hac 45 IPP

6 Small hydropower 180

Hydropower plants operating in 2014 655

1 H.P Nho Que 2 48 IPP

2 H.P Long Tao 42 IPP

3 H.P Bac Me 45 IPP

4 H.P Chi Khe 41 IPP

5 H.P Song Nam - Song Bac 49 IPP

6 H.P Tra Khuc 1 36 IPP

7 H.P Song Tranh 4 48 IPP

8 H.P La Ngau 46 La Ngau joint stock

hydropower company

9 Small hydropower 300

59

Hydropower plants operating in 2015 384

1 H.P Song Lo 6 44 IPP

2 H.P Song Tranh 5 40 IPP

3 H.P Thanh Son 40 IPP

4 H.P Phu Tan 2 60 IPP

5 Small hydropower 200

Hydropower plants operating in 2016 355

1 H.P Thanh Son 37 IPP

2 H.P Ban Mong 60 IPP

3 H.P A Lin 63 IPP

4 H.P Dak My 3 45 IPP

5 Small hydropower 150

Hydropower plants operating in 2017 354

1 H.P Dak My 1 54 IPP

2 Small hydropower 300 IPP