Polluters in more than 100 industrial areas and crafts villages caught dumping waste into the rivers of Cau, Nhue, Day and Thi Vai would be caught and punished this year, said the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Pham Khoi Nguyen, on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009.
The ministry has already drafted a plan to punish offenders.All companies in industrial areas and craft villages without waste treatment systems will be targeted. Those found to be exceeding regulated levels will be heavily fined.Less serious offenders will be given a year to fix their waste treatment systems.Owners of newly-built factories must undertake an environmental impact assessment and commit to environment protection laws and regulations, said Nguyen."There is no exception or concessions for anyone," he said.According to Nguyen Thi Du, chief inspector of HCM City’s Natural Resources and Environment Department, the department has recently punished polluters in Binh Chanh District’s Le Minh Xuan Industrial Area.Currently, fines of dozens of millions of dong are imposed for violations. But this is still too low, according to Du.It was necessary to have specific regulations to impose tougher punishments on polluters and force them to clean up their mess, said Pham Van Vo, deputy head of the Environmental Law Faculty at HCM City’s Law University."Serious environmental crimes like releasing waste into rivers, land and the air are becoming widespread because our punishments are not tough enough," the minister said."There will be changes to current punishments. However, it will only come after careful consideration. These factories are the work places of thousands of labourers", said Nguyen.Land-related problems would be also solved through the new laws, said the minister.In March, a decree will be issued detailing amended land prices, land compensations and resettlement.Draft amendments to the Land Law will be submitted to the National Assembly by the end of the year.
