Environmental Hygiene Co. collared for illegal dumping

The ongoing investigation may yet implicate the IP’s management board as well as the park’s tenant firms

On April 12, in the Mai Chau hamlet of Dai Mach commune in Hanoi’s northern district of Dong Anh, the Ministry of Public Security’s Environmental Crime

Prevention and Fighting Police Department (known as C49) caught a vehicle with a registered plate 29C-26974 red-handed, illegally discharging untreated industrial mud and water into the environment

“Ordered by the director of Environmental Hygiene Company Limited No.1, I have driven this vehicle into Thang Long industrial park (IP) to remove waste mud and then discharge it in Dai Mach commune,” declared driver Nguyen Van Du from the company.

Environmental Hygiene Company Limited No.1 is a private company operating in the district.

The $76.85 million IP is a joint venture between Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation (58 per cent) and locally-owned Dong Anh Mechanical Company (42 per cent). The whole park has been occupied by Japanese firms, including major players Canon, Panasonic, Toto, Ashahi, and MHI Aerospace.

Vuong Ngoc Chi, Chairman of the Dai Mach People’s Committee, told VIR that according to the initial investigation, the waste may come from the park’s water treatment facility.

“Further investigation is being conducted,” Chi said. “We have yet to decide on any compensation from the park as we are waiting for the final report from the police.”

Meanwhile, a source from the park’s management board told VIR that the board was now working with investigators on the issue.

“No official results have been made. I can’t reveal any other details about whether the contracts have been signed between Environmental Hygiene Company Limited No.1 and the management board or any Japanese firms here,” the source said.

However, a source from the Project Management Unit (PMU) of Dong Anh district told VIR that if Environmental Hygiene Company Limited No.1 signed contracts on waste treatment with Japanese firms at the park, then the park’s management board, the company, and the Japanese firms involved would be held accountable.

“Under current regulations, all parties in the contract have to know of and supervise how and where the waste will be discharged,” the PMU source said. “The cost for treating waste water is relatively high, while the local authorities remain lax in environmental management, so clearly Environmental Hygiene Company Limited No.1 has destroyed the environment just to save costs.”

Lieutenant-colonel Le Van Tuan, a representative from C49, said that the scandal was quite serious, as well as being a great public annoyance.

“We will continue expanding the investigation so that violators can be punished under the law,” Tuan said.

Environmental Hygiene Company Limited No.1 has reportedly been illegally discharging untreated waste into the environment in and around the commune since late 2015.