Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen on Friday asked leaders of HCMC and eleven other southern provinces to conduct more inspections and to apply the heaviest penalties on any enterprise caught polluting the Dong Nai River.
Nguyen told a conference of the Committee of Environment Protection of the Basin System of Dong Nai River that the pollution of the Dong Nai River had become an urgent matter as the river water has been rapidly worsening.
The minister asked leaders of the twelve provinces, which share the resources of the river basin, to list and classify all industrial parks, export processing zones and enterprises causing heavy pollution in the river basin.
The localities are HCMC, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Long An, Tay Ninh, Lam Dong, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan. The Dong Nai River Basin has 266 branches and streams to supply water for nearly 15 million people.
Talking to the Daily on the sidelines of the conference, Nguyen said that provincial authorities should immediately suspend production of any enterprise discharging a moderate amount of untreated industrial wastewater into the river and the violator must cut down production until the pollution is repaired.
Meanwhile, any factory caught causing serious pollution to the Dong Nai River will be shut down immediately and forced to relocate out of the river basin, Nguyen said.
“The ministry has also proposed related provinces and HCMC refuse licensing new projects along the river basin in case the investors do not have optimal solutions for environment protection during production activities,” he said.
Bui Cach Tuyen, head of the Vietnam Environment Administration, told the conference that many lower sections of the Dong Nai River, such as Tri An Dam, Dau Tieng Dam, Vam Co Dong River and Thi Vai River, had been seriously polluted, mostly by the recent industrial development.
Meanwhile, in the upper reaches of the river, Tuyen said that though the pollution was not clearly evident, organic pollution was discovered at Cam Ly Waterfall and some lakes in Dalat City and was increasing at floating fish rafts around Tri An Reservoir.
Previously, the Government approved a master project to protect the Dong Nai River until 2020. Under the project, the twelve provinces and city must carry out 16 sub-projects to protect the Dong Nai with a budget of nearly VND2 trillion.
However, Tuyen said that for over a year since the Committee of Environment Protection of the Basin System of the Dong Nai River was founded in late 2008, the related provinces had been slow to draft the sub-projects.
So far, only three provinces have completed making the sub-projects, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai and Ninh Thuan. Tuyen suggested the other provinces complete the sub-projects this year.