BẾN TRE — The Bến Tre People’s Committee has fined a company in Bến Tre City more than VNĐ350 million (US$15,400) for violations related to environmental and water protection.

The information was released by Nguyễn Văn Chinh, director of the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

The People’s Committee also asked Trung Nhạc Co Ltd in Sơn Đông Commune to strictly implement waste water treatment based on its commitment.

Earlier, from January 20 to February 21 this year, the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment conducted an inspection at the company on environment protection, water and land use and management.

The inspection showed that the company had several faults, including not conducting regulations related to environmental protection, discharging waste water exceeding regulated level by five times and repeating its violations five times despite penalties from the department. 

The company processes fruits and vegetables, manufactures products from coconuts and sells agricultural material. The company started operations in January 15, 2013, with capacity of 40-50 tonnes of raw coconuts per month, equaling 480-600 tonnes per year.

The company submitted a detailed proposal on environment protection to the provincial authority in 2015 to get approval for raising its capacity to 800 tonnes per year. However, the proposal was not approved by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, because even with a capacity of 600 tonnes per year, the company did not comply with regulations related to environmental protection and regularly discharged untreated waste water into the environment. — VNS