The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will inspect adherence to environment protection regulations at 520 production and business establishments, industrial, export processing and hi-tech zones. — Photo baodaknong.org.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will inspect adherence to environment protection regulations at 520 production and business establishments, industrial, export processing and hi-tech zones.

These establishments could potentially cause serious environmental pollution this year.

They are located in 21 cities and provinces, including Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh, Hải Phòng and Gia Lai, as well as Khánh Hòa, Kiên Giang, Bắc Ninh and Thái Nguyên, along with Vĩnh Phúc, Đồng Nai, Long An and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu.

Inspection will particularly focus on establishments with total waste water discharge of over 200cu.m. per day.

The ministry will also examine implementation of inspection results from 2014-2016 of 219 firms found to have caused environmental pollution in Quảng Ninh, Hưng Yên, Đồng Tháp and Tiền Giang, as well as Bạc Liêu, Cần Thơ, Quảng Trị and Phú Yên, along with Thừa Thiên-Huế and Quảng Ngãi.

The ministry is working with localities to continue inspecting and assessing sources of environmental pollution, polluted areas and areas with degraded environment nationwide to build a national data system on sources of pollution and map out solutions to address the issues.

It will also continue completing the draft of inspection results and administrative punishment decision on 825 establishments in 32 provinces and cities that were found to have polluted the environment in 2016.

Under the Government’s latest Decree 155/2016/NĐ-CP on administrative penalties in the environmental protection sector, which came into effect on February 1, the highest administrative fine for organisations caught violating regulations related to environmental protection is VNĐ2 billion (US$88,800).

The decree has detailed regulations on the methods, levels of punishment, measures for strengthening penalties imposed on violators and inspections of the sector.

Violations related to environmental protection that are mentioned in the decree include violations of laws governing waste management, machines, import of material, biological substances and mineral exploitation.

It also includes violations related to biological diversity, natural ecology and animal protection. — VNS