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A charcoal trading facility in a residential area on Luong Ngoc Quyen Street of Ward 13 in Binh Thanh District |
Mr. D from Hamlet 6 of Le Minh Xuan Commune in Binh Chanh District reported to SGGP Newspaper that his house has to endure noise pollution from the two neighboring facilities of Hiep Hung Production Co. and Phat Vinh Shoe Sole Processing Co., not to mention the nasty smell. To make matter worse, the latter company usually releases sewage onto the street, some of which is slowly soaking the walls of his house.
A similar story can be found on the inter-zone route No.4-5 and No.5-6 of Binh Hung Hoa A Commune and Binh Hung Hoa B Commune (Binh Tan District), the Provincial Way No.10 (in Tan Tao Ward of Binh Tan District). There are several small production facilities working inside residential areas, most of which do not have a proper sewage and emission processing system. Thus, they often release pollutants and foul smell onto the environment.
Besides being an environmental hazard, such small production facilities also pose a high risk of fire and explosion. More seriously, the situation can even be seen in the inner city of HCM. Ms. N from Ward 13 of Binh Thanh District informed that pig transportation of Vissan JSC. at around 10am - 11am has always left behind a stinking smell on the way, severely annoying local residents and harming the economic activities of nearby food shops.
The problem seems more serious when used-to-be hot spots of environmental pollution in many residential areas throughout HCMC have reversed back to their terrible status despite efforts of the local authorities to relocate polluted facilities to the outskirt. This is because various new ones have appeared without any care for environment protection.
Tran Thi Lien from Nguyen Van Qua Street of Dong Hung Thuan Ward in District 12 reported that when the municipal authorities adopted the policy to move polluted production facilities away from residential areas, she wholeheartedly supported it, and could enjoy fresher air in her neighborhood. However, at present, several new facilities have come into operation, causing uncomfortable noise and unbearable smell, black smoke. This has harmfully impacted daily activities of the local.
The HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment stated that in 2016, HCMC People’s Committee issued a plan to pilot handling 21 production facilities in Neighborhood No.4 and 5 of Dong Hung Thuan Ward in District 12 due to their environmentally harmful activities. Until now, two have changed to other work, three have moved to other areas, eleven have been relocated to Le Minh Xuan 3 Industrial Park, and the rest have stopped working.
This piloting scheme is classified as a success. It has encouraged investment in upgrading production technologies, devices, and product quality for more sustainable growth. The scheme is also a valuable lesson for other localities to learn and copy. The concentration of each environmental pollution type into a corresponding place makes it easier and more cost-effective to apply pollution processing methods.
In 2016, HCMC People’s Committee issued Dispatch No.1097/UBND-THKH, approving a support of 50 percent of loan interest rates in 7 years (according to the Investment Stimulus Program). This enables needy businesses to borrow money to upgrade their machines or relocate themselves to more suitable places. Adding to that is a policy of Le Minh Xuan 3 Industrial Park to help these relocated production facilities (land use rent aid, steam use rate aid and steam VAT aid until now).
The HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment revealed that the task of relocating small production facilities out of residential areas has encountered various challenges, including resistance of facility owners to move away, stubbornness of those owners not to observe punishment decisions, lack of interaction among related state departments and agencies in information exchange and update for citizens.
Binh Chanh District Division of Natural Resources and Environment informed that there are now 185 small polluted production facilities scattering around residential areas in the district. It has encouraged 26 facilities to move to Le Minh Xuan Cottage Industrial Park and 9 to change to another work. Another 133 businesses have invested in modern sewage processing systems.
During the time to carry out this task, Binh Chanh District People’s Committee also meets many difficulties like weak sanctions, resistance of facility owners, arrangement of concerned facilities into new places as most industrial parks in the district are fully occupied or do not welcome them due to their high-risk nature. Therefore, Binh Chanh District People’s Committee has proposed that HCMC create industrial clusters and parks suitable for the working nature and scale of these production facilities for them to move in.
