Decree No. 118/2004/ND-CP dated May 10, 2004 of the Government amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 54/1999/ND-CP dated July 8, 1999 on protection of safety of high-voltage power grids

DECREE

AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF THE GOVERN-MENT'S DECREE NO. 54/1999/ND-CP OF JULY 8, 1999 ON PROTECTION OF SAFETY OF HIGH-VOLTAGE POWER GRIDS

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;

At the proposal of the Minister of Industry,

DECREES:

Article 1.- To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 54/1999/ND-CP of July 8, 1999 on protection of safety of high-voltage power grids as follows:

1. To amend and supplement Point c, Clause 1 of Article 6 as follows:

"c/ The height is calculated from the bottom of the post base to the post top plus a vertical safety distance prescribed in the following table:

2. To amend and supplement Article 7 as follows:

"Article 7.-

1. With regard to trees and plants in the safety protection corridors of high-voltage power grids:

a/ In cities, provincial towns and district townships:

The distance from the highest point of trees to the transmission line of a voltage of up to 35 kV in the static position must not be shorter than the distance prescribed in the following table:

The vertical distance from the highest point of trees to the transmission line of a voltage of between 66 kV and 500 kV in the static position must not be shorter than the distance prescribed in the following table:

b/ Outside cities, provincial towns or district townships:

The vertical distance from the highest points of trees to the transmission lines in the static position must not be shorter than the distance prescribed in the following table:

c/ Plants which can quickly grow within a short period of time and can threaten the safety (such as cucalyptus, bamboo of various species) and plants which would yield no economic value when having their tops cut or their branches trimmed off (such as areca nut tree, coconut tree, rubber tree), must be cut at their stumps and not be re-planted.

2. For trees outside the safety protection corridors of high-voltage power grids and outside cities, provincial towns or district townships:

The distance from any part of falling trees to any part of the transmission line must not be shorter than the distance prescribed in the following table:

3. Rice and subsidiary crops must be grown at least 0.5 m away from the edge of the electric post base and support cable foundation."

3. To amend and supplement Article 8 as follows:

"Article 8.-

1. Dwelling houses and projects which exist within the safety protection corridors of high-voltage power grids of a voltage of up to 220 kV must satisfy the following conditions:

a/ Their roofs and surrounding walls are made of fire-proof materials;

b/ Their roofs and surrounding walls of metals must be earthed according to regulations;

c/ They do not block the access for checking and maintaining of parts of power grid works;

d/ The vertical distance from any part of the dwelling houses or works to the transmission lines in the static position must not be shorter than the distance prescribed in the following table:

e/ For the distance from the transmission line stretching over houses and works, measures must be taken to enhance the power and construction safety;

f/ The electric field intensity must be smaller than 5 kV/m; the inducing current intensity must be smaller than 10 mA/m2 or magnetic field intensity must be smaller than 100 mT. The position for measurement is prescribed to be any point within the power grid corridor and to be 1 meter high from the ground.

2. With regard to dwelling houses and works lawfully built before the construction of the overhead power transmission lines, which fail to satisfy the conditions prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the investor of the high-voltage power grid project shall have to pay for the modification of such houses or works to satisfy such conditions. In cases where modification cannot be made to satisfy the above-said conditions, the investor of the high-voltage power grid project shall have to make compensations for relocation of such houses or works according to the provisions of law.

3. Owners or users of dwelling houses or works existing in the safety protection corridors of high-voltage power grid must not use the house roofs or any other parts of the dwelling houses or works for purposes which may encroach upon the safety distance prescribed at Point d, Clause 1 of this Article and must comply with the regulations on protection of safety of high-voltage power grids when repairing or renovating their dwelling houses or works.

4. Before granting permits for organizations or individuals to build or expand dwelling houses or works within the safety protection corridors of the high-voltage power grids, the permitting agencies must request the construction investors of such dwelling houses or works to reach agreements in writing with the competent units managing the high-voltage power grids on measures to ensure the safety of the high-voltage power grids and safety in the course of construction, expansion or use of such dwelling houses and works.

5. Dwelling houses and works where people permanently live and/or work must not exist within the safety protection corridors of the high-voltage power grids of a voltage of 500 kV or higher, except for specialized works in service of the operation of such power grids."

4. To amend and supplement Clause 1 of Article 9 as follows:

"1. Any activities within the safety protection corridors of the overhead transmission lines with the use of equipment, instruments and/or means which may encroach upon the safety distances prescribed in the table in Clause 1, Article 1 of this Decree are prohibited. In special cases where activities must be carried out due to urgent defense or security requirements, agreements must be reached with the high-voltage power grid-managing units to apply necessary safety measures."

5. To amend and supplement Point c, Clause 2 of Article 10 as follows:

"c/ The underground cable sections connected with the overhead power transmission lines from the ground to the 2-meter height must be cased in protective tubes."

6. To amend and supplement Article 11 as follows:

"Article 11.-

1. When constructing high-voltage power grid works, if the organizations, households or individuals that have land recovered or have land and assets affixed to land lying within the safety protection corridors of high-voltage power grids suffer damage, they shall be compensated or provided with land and material supports according to law provisions. The investors of high-voltage power grid works shall have to pay compensations or provide supports to the damaged organizations, households and individuals.

2. When projects on construction of high-voltage power grid works have their construction grounds approved by competent State agencies, their investors shall have to notify such to organizations, households and individuals being land users or owners of houses and other assets on land within the project areas. After the time of publicizing the approval decisions, newly built dwelling houses and works as well as newly grown trees, which violate the Government's regulations on protection of safety of high-voltage power grids, shall be dismantled, cut or trimmed off without any compensations or supports.

3. Owners of dwelling houses and works satisfying the conditions for existence within the safety protection corridors of the high-voltage power grids, who have received compensations or supports provided for by law and wish to relocate their houses or works out of the corridors, shall carry out the relocation by themselves without any other compensations or supports.

4. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry shall have to guide the compensations and supports upon construction of high-voltage power grid works."

7. To amend and supplement Point c, Clause 1, Article 14 as follows:

c/ The corridor's height is calculated from the deepest bottom of the foundation of the power station work to the highest point in the station plus the vertical safety distance prescribed in the table in Clause 1, Article 1 of this Decree."

8. To amend and supplement Article 19 as follows:

"Article 19.- The units managing the operation of high-voltage power grids have the responsibilities:

1. To inspect power grid corridors under their management to promptly detect acts of violating the Government's regulations on protection of safety of high-voltage power grids. Upon detecting violation acts and depending the seriousness of violations, to notify and request violators to stop immediately their violation acts or report them to, and coordinate with, the local competent State agencies in making written records on handling of such violation acts.

2. To check, repair and maintain transmission lines according to the prescribed schedule, not to overload transmission lines stretching over dwelling houses and/or works.

3. To make statistics on and monitor encroachments upon the high-voltage power grid safety corridors under their management and report thereon to the local agencies in charge of State management over electricity and the superior management agencies according to regulations."

9. To add Article 26a as follows:

"Article 26a.-

1. The presidents of the provincial/municipal People's Committees shall have to direct the functional agencies in inspecting, preventing and promptly handling acts of violating the Government's Decree on protection of safety of high-voltage power grids under their management.

2. Basing itself on the situation in each locality, the Ministry of Industry shall advise the presidents of the provincial/municipal People's Committees on establishing the Steering Committees to handle matters related to the protection of safety of the high-voltage power grids. The composition and operation regulation of the Steering Committees shall be decided by the presidents of the provincial/municipal People's Committees."

Article 2.- This Decree takes effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette. All previous stipulations which are contrary to this Decree are hereby annulled.

Article 3.- The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the Government-attached agencies, the presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities and the concerned organizations and individuals shall have to implement this Decree.