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*Identifying responsibilities of environmental protection
Directive 25/CT-TTg focuses on perfecting institutions, increasing prevention and control of pollution, promoting inspection, mobilizing resources and enhancing propaganda.
In the Direction, Prime Minister gives out solution to deal with environmental pollution, identifies responsibilities of agencies, organization and individuals involved in project investment. In near future, Vietnam will assign quotas and evaluation and ranking of environmental protection to every locality.
To overcome limitation and actively protect and reduce pollution in order to make changes in environmental protection, Prime Minister requires that environmental protection is a requirement during development process. Environmental protection is a responsibility of the whole political system, community, enterprises and people. Investment attraction should be followed requirements of environmental protection. Any investment in production and using backward technology in production that cause high risks of pollution will not allow.
The Prime Minister asked ministries, branches and localities to coordinate closely in the implementation of environmental protection tasks from approval, evaluation and implementation to operation of the project. Investors, the agency which decides to approve the investment, evaluates production technology, approves reports on environmental impact assessment must take responsibility for the environmental issues of the project. Chairmen of People’s Committee at all levels are responsible for the environmental issues in the province. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment inspects, monitors and supervises the implementation of the law on environmental protection by the ministries, branches and localities.
Ministries, branches and localities reorganize their administration to strengthen environmental management; use budget for environmental protection to allocate staff who take charge of environmental protection at grassroot levels; improve and modernize technical equipments to serve the State management of environmental protection.
The ministries, branches and localities strengthen propaganda and mobilize people to participate in protecting environment, waste separation at source and garbage collection; create favorable conditions for Vietnam’s Fatherland Front and its member organizations to coordinate, monitor environmental protection activities; proactively providing information, promoting the role of the media in environmental protection.
* Handling environmental hotspots
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has specified a series of tasks to be completed in 2017. They are: giving out environmental criteria for selection, screening of investment projects; technical regulations to control projects which may cause high risks of pollution; announce the list of advanced technology, backward technology and technology which may cause environmental pollution; environmental zoning, delineating areas of environmental sensitivity as a basis for approval of investment; revise approval procedure of report of environmental impact assessment; build projects to strengthen capacity of the monitoring and supervision of environmental quality.
Four years later, Vietnam will require all industrial zones, export processing zones, high-tech zones, industrial complexes, manufacturing facilities outside of industrial parks which have wastewater discharge from 1.000m3 / day or more to install continuous and automatic wastewater monitoring system and transmit data directly to the local Department of Natural Resources and Environment. All industrial zones, export processing zones, high-tech zones and industrial clusters will have completed wastewater treatment systems satisfying the requirements of environmental protection before going into operation.
By 2020, establishments causing serious environmental pollution in the localities will have been removed to industrial parks, industrial clusters which have waste treatment systems satisfying requirements on environmental protection.
Also by the year 2020, planning and implementing roadmap for turning craft villages into model of craft villages parks which now have reasonable technical infrastructure to meet the requirements of environmental protection; completing the renovation and restoration of the environment for the mining areas.
Direction made by the Prime Minister is an essential move, at the moment because Vietnam is paying the price for focusing on economic growth, but environmental disregard. Environmental protection need to act immediately. Otherwise, the price that future generations will have to pay much more than the current benefits bring about.
Bao Chau