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| Environment police in 2011 found untreated waste water flow from Sonadezi Wastewater treatment factory in Long Thành Industrial Zone to Bà Chèo Canal and then into Đồng Nai River. The southern Đồng Nai Province now considers environmental protection its top priority, while soliciting investment in its industrial parks.– Photo thanhnien.vn |
Viet Nam News
HCM CITY — Đồng Nai will make environmental protection its top priority, while soliciting investment in its industrial parks.
“Đồng Nai Province is now focused on attracting investment in technology and bio-technology which can limit pollution,” Võ Văn Chánh, deputy chairman of the province People’s Committee, told Vietnam News Agency.
“Polluting industries, like electro-plating, dyeing and textiles, will not be granted licences any more.”
Since 2009 the province and the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment have regularly inspected polluting companies, blacklisting 157 for serious pollution, fining them, and ordering them to improve the situation.
Thanks to these efforts, 146 of them cleaned up their act and are off the blacklist as of May, the news agency reported.
Most of the 157 businesses are situated in Biên Hòa Industrial Park number 1, the country’s first industrial park (IP). It was built in 1964 and does not have a wastewater treatment system.
All wastewater from the park is emptied directly into the Đồng Nai River, severely polluting it.
The province has sought Government permission to move its tenants to the Giang Điền IP in Trảng Bom District.
All of the province’s 29 IPs have wastewater treatment systems, and 20 of them have automatic measurement stations to monitor pollution.
“These automatic measurement stations send all information about the quality of wastewater to the provincial department of Natural Resource and Environment every 30 minutes,” said Nguyễn Ngọc Thường, deputy director of the department.
"This helps discover offenders and prevents any plant from polluting," he said.
The province wants to set up automatic measurement stations at six more IPs this year. It has also instructed relevant authorities to step up inspections to ensure normal and harmful solid wastes are collected and to ensure enterprises link their wastewater systems to their IP drainage system.
Three more IPs are under construction in the province.
Đồng Nai has 1,600 foreign projects funded by 35 nations and territories, with a combined investment total of US$29 billion. — VNS
