Government gives priority to residents in dispensing $500 million compensation

July 01, 2016 | 16:29

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The government will give priority to spend the $500 million compensation, which Formosa – the investor of the $10.5 billion steel and port complex in the central province of Ha Tinh, committed to paying for households who suffered economic damage and for marine environmental pollution treatment, to mitigate their economic damages.

This was announced by Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung at the government press conference, publishing the reason of mass fish deaths in the four central coastal provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Tri, Quang Binh, and Thua Thien-Hue, on June 30.

Dung stated that the government would require ministries, relevant agencies, and provincial authorities to build a compensation plan, including supporting affected individuals to change jobs as well as environmental pollution treatment.

Along with directions about using the components, Dung added that the government will review and consider procedures, environmental standards as well as conditions to let organisations or the local authorities report their projects’ environmental impacts.

Besides, Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan said that in order to prevent the recurrence of the incident in the future, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc required ministries and other authorities to review the environmental protection standards for enterprises. If these ministries and authorities do not complete their mission, they will have to take responsibility, according to regulation.

On the same day, the Ha Tinh People’s Committee decided to establish a council to estimate the damages of the environmental break-down and simultaneously build solutions to overcome consequences.

Formosa complex’s discharge toxins into the sea, causing the mass fish deaths in the four central coastal provinces, have caused great disturbance, endangering residents’ livelihood, leading to public anger during last nearly three months. This case is similar to monosodium glutamate (MSG) producer Vedan’s discharging untreated wastewater into the Thi Vai River in 2008.

In its case, Vedan was reported to dump more than 5,000 cubic metres of untreated wastewater a day into the Thi Vai River through a sophisticated underground pipeline for many years. It caused serious pollution and heavy losses to thousands of fish-farming households in Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and Ho Chi Minh City. Vedan was reported to be saving $30 million per month thanks to the illegal pipeline system.

According to a representative of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, during the 1995-2005 period, Vedan continuously discharged inadequately treated wastewater showing levels of contaminants and pollutants far exceeding regulated limits. Xyanua and coliform levels were found to be 5,600 and over 100 times of the prescribed maximum.

However, Vedan did not appropriately compensate its victims. The households sued the company due to its delay in paying for their losses.

In August 2010, two years after Vedan’s polluting activities were brought to light, the company signed an agreement to compensate households in three provinces for a total of VND219.2 billion ($11.2 million), including VND45.7 billion ($2.3 million) to Ho Chi Minh City, VND53.5 billion ($2.7 million) to Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and VND120 billion ($6.2 million) to Dong Nai.

In addition, the company also agreed to pay the Dong Nai People's Committee VND500 million ($26,300) to cover the cost of calculating losses.