HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Environmental and Natural Resources will inspect projects that have high potential for causing severe environmental pollution to ensure that they are adhering to the law in 2017.

Environmental and natural resources minister Trần Hồng Hà issued Document No. 60, which orders the leaders of cities and provinces to collaborate to conduct these inspections.

Sectors that will come under the radar include textile dyeing, metallurgy and the production of chemicals, paper, pulp, cassava, rubber, sugarcane, leather and thermal power, the document states.

The ministry, along with provinces and cities, will inspect all industrial units that discharge 200cu.m or more of waste water, except those that have already been inspected in 2016.

The ministry will also inspect the implementation of administrative procedures on land, with a focus on procedures of acquisition, compensation and support for people whose properties have been recovered by the government, forcing them to resettle in new places. It will also look into procedures of land allocation, land lease, transfer of land-use purposes, initial land registration, registration of land alteration and registration of certificates of land use rights for organisations, households and individuals. 

Inspections will be conducted at quarries and mines so that all laws are followed in the management, exploration, exploitation and use of stones as building materials.

The ministry will also inspect the state management of water resources and the exploration, exploitation and use of water resources by a number of organisations and individuals. The operating procedures that involve different reservoirs in river basins will also be checked. — VNS