Dong Nai refuses to tolerate polluters
By Van Nam - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – The government of the southern province of Dong Nai will immediately suspend production of any enterprise caught discharging untreated industrial wastewater into the Dong Nai River, said an official of the province’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Suspension of production activities is considered the strictest measure to prevent the main river from heavier pollution.
Vo Van Chanh, vice director of the environment department, told the Daily at a press briefing on Wednesday that the department had listed 37 local enterprises that had recently inflicted serious damage on the river.
“We have already warned them. If any of them is rediscovered discharging untreated wastewater into the river, the province’s government will close down their production activities immediately,” Chanh said.
Leaders of the Dong Nai Province government on Wednesday admitted that environment pollution was still a big problem in the province with 22 industrial parks discharging some 70,000 cubic meters of industrial wastewater each day.
Though the province’s environmental authority levied fines on local environment polluters last year amounting to some VND2.3 billion, it seems the heavy fines have not deterred the violators of environmental law here.
There are still two industrial parks in the province without common wastewater facilities, Ong Keo Industrial Park and Thanh Phu Industrial Park.