Đà Nẵng — Nearly six hectare of clean land have been handed over to the Aviation Airport Corporation of Việt Nam to build new taxiways, a runway and plane parking areas at the Đà Nẵng Airport ahead of the 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Summit to take place in the central city later this year.

Major General and deputy head commander of Air Defences, Bùi Anh Chung, announced the transfer yesterday during a visit by an inter-agency team to the treatment centre of soil contaminted by dioxin used by US forces during the Việt Nam war.

Chung, who heads the management board of the treatment project, said that in the recently completed first stage, 150,000 cubic metres of sludge and dioxin-contaminated soil had been excavated, and 45,000 cubic metres had been put through thermal treatment.

“In the second stage that began in November, another 45,000 cubic metres of contaminated soil and sediment will be treated by July,” Chung said. “The project helped clear 19ha of pond and lake in the area since commencing in 2011, of which 6ha is now ready for the expansion of aircraft parking lots and runaway E7 at Đà Nẵng Airport,” he said, adding that more land will be transferred to Đà Nẵng city this month.

Chung also said the project has been efficient thanks to the co-operation among the Ministry of Defence, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Air Defence and Air Force command, contractors and relevant agencies.Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Trần Hồng Hà said the project will last until 2018 and would treat double the amount of soil and sediment that was planned. He said sewage, air discharged from the treatment and charcoal used in the process should be dealt with in the second stage of the project.

The project uses an In-Pile Thermal Desorption (IPTD) system into which batches of contaminated soil and sediment are placed in a container and heated to a temperature of 335 degrees Celsius, which destroys 95 per cent of dioxins.

The soil is later removed from the container and tested for traces of contaminants before being put back.

Đà Nẵng’s former US air base is considered a dioxin hot spot due to its high levels of dioxin. Other dioxin-polluted spots include Biên Hoà in the southwestern province of Đồng Nai and Phù Cát Airport in Bình Định Province.

According to the Office of National Steering Committee 33, about 148,000 cubic metres of dioxin-contaminated soil was identified at Đà Nẵng Airport; 7,500 cubic metres in Phù Cát Airport and between 450,000 or 500,000 cubic metres at Biên Hòa Airport. — VNS