Lai Chau Reservoir

Clear green water fills the gap between the steep mountains of the northwest. Mountains, clouds and forest lie spread across its surface, like a vast ink-wash painting. This is the reservoir of the Lai Châu hydropower plant, and it holds more than 1.2 billion cubic meters of water. The plant lies at Nậm Nhùn, on the main stream of the Đà River.

But this view comes with a cost that must not be forgotten. A total of 1,331 households, more than 5,800 people, left the Mường Tè area. They gave up the land of their ancestors so that the reservoir could fill. That was no small sacrifice. Behind the beauty of the water lies the story of people who had to begin again from the start.

The Lai Châu plant is the third largest hydropower plant in Vietnam. Its installed capacity is 1,200 megawatts. It has three generating units, each of 400 megawatts.

What the project takes most pride in is not its capacity. It is that the whole design, construction and operation were done by Vietnamese people. There was no foreign general contractor in charge of the project, from the first design to the running of the plant. Vietnamese engineers and workers took on the full responsibility, and they carried it through.

They did not only finish. They finished early. The original plan was to complete the plant in 2017. Instead it joined the national grid in November 2016 and was inaugurated that December, a full year ahead of schedule. Among large infrastructure projects, that is not common.

Work had begun on January 5, 2011. The total investment was about 35,700 billion dong.

The Lai Châu plant is the first step, the top one, in a staircase of hydropower plants along the main stream of the Đà River. Below it stand the Sơn La and Hòa Bình plants. The three steps work together like one body. In the rainy season they hold back floods for the Red River Delta, and in the dry season they supply water downstream. Take away one step, and the whole system loses its balance.

So this lake is more than a beautiful view. It sits at the head of three steps that steady the breathing of the whole north. Behind the clear green surface are millions of households that light their lamps each night. Behind it, too, are fields downstream that are spared from flooding. And behind it is the labor of more than 5,800 people who gave up the land of their ancestors so that this water could flow on downstream.