Central Khanh Hoa Province authorities have
urged the management board of a local economic zone to accelerate the
revocation of the industrial waste processing plant of a shipyard.
The local
government has asked the management board of Van Phong Economic Zone to speed
up the official procedures to finalize the revocation of the plant under
Hyundai – Vinashin Shipbuilding Co Ltd.
Accordingly,
the management board of Van Phong Economic Zone has been asked to check how
much money had been poured into the project.
The
inspection and revocation must not affect other investors who want to take over
the project, said local authorities.
The
VND1.5 trillion plant was previously planned to be invested by Hanoi Mining and
Metallurgy Joint Stock Co. The project has been stopped since the company held
the groundbreaking ceremony for it in 2008.
Another
groundbreaking ceremony was organized in October, 2009 with a plan to put the
plant into operation in March 2011.
But the
project is still a vacant site, letting millions of tons of copper slag
discharged by the shipyard to be untreated, seriously polluting underground
water, arable land and sea areas nearby. Copper slag is used for blast-cleaning
of ships’ metal surface.
Under
current policies, the project will enjoy preferential loans, approximately 65
percent of the interest rate for commercial loans.
The
Vietnam Development Bank has committed to fund for project as long as the waste
treatment technology is accredited by an authorized scientific council. Khanh
Hoa Province has repeatedly extended the project for the investor so that it
can get an official accreditation.
According
Hanoi Mining and Metallurgy Joint Stock Co, the technology, invented by
scientists in Kunming (Yunnan, China), allows the recovery of sponge iron and
other metals from copper slag with high economic efficiency.
However,
after the announcement, many well-known local scientists had expressed doubts
about the authenticity of the technology, since many world leading scientific
powers still have no choice but burying the copper slag waste.
Answering
the press about the causes of the delays, the leaders of the company said the
technology was still stuck at the Institute for Science and Technology of
Vietnam for final appraisal.
However,
Dr. Truong Thien Do, head of applications and technology development department
of the institute, said the institute did not receive any dossier of the
technology for appraisal from the company.
Vice
president of the Institute, Duong Ngoc Hai, reconfirmed the same thing.
Direct dumping, as usual
On Aril
6, 2011, environmental police for the third time found that unprocessed liquid
wastes were disposed from Huyndai-Vinashin Shipbuilding Co’s pipes directly
into Van Phong Bay nearby.
Not
treated with chemicals, 25 cubic meters of raw sewage from a factory’s canteen
that serves 1, 000 workers was daily dumped into the sea.
From
2008, Huyndai - Vinashin Shipbuilding Company has gained environmental
notoriety for illegally dumping hundreds of tons of toxic industrial wastes at
Khanh Hoa’s Ninh Hoa district.
Besides,
the company is storing more than 800,000 tons of copper slag which has heavily
polluted the surrounding residential areas for more than 10 years.
Tuoitre
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
No comments:
Post a Comment