Implementation and Monitoring of Song Bung 4 Hydropower Project Resettlement and Ethnic Minority Development Plan

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On 26 June 2008, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved Loan 2429-VIE: Song Bung 4 (SB 4) Hydropower Project for $196 million, which became effective on 16 January 2009. The Project consists of the construction of a 156-megawatt hydropower plant on the Song Bung in the Vu Gia-Thu Bon river basin and a 110-meter (m)-high roller compacted concrete dam on the same river with a crest length of 367 m. The Project is located in Nam Giang District of Quang Nam Province in Central Viet Nam, which is predominantly inhabited by indigenous people belonging to the Co Tu ethnic minority. The SB 4 Hydropower Project will result in the relocation of more than 1,200 Co Tu ethnic minority people in Zuoih commune in Nam Giang District. The resettlement cost is funded by the Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN). The Project is also supported by a complementary grant of $2 million financed by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) under Grant 9120: Livelihood Improvement of Vulnerable Ethnic Minority Communities Affected by the SB 4 Hydropower Project in Quang Nam Province. The JFPR project was approved by ADB on 26 June 2008 and became effective on 10 November 2008. The SB 4 Hydropower Project has several social impacts on the people who live in the reservoir, downstream, and upstream areas. The impacts include the (i) relocation of more than 1,200 people living in the reservoir area, which represents more than 97% of the people in the area, and 27,340 people from 89 villages along the Bung River downstream and upstream of the dam; and (ii) acquisition of land for more than 500 ethnic minority people for the development of resettlement sites and access roads to resettlement sites. In view of these, SB 4 Hydropower Project is considered a high-risk project.