Residents long for Khanh Son dump’s closure

The Khanh Son landfill receives over 900 tonnes of waste daily plus about 500-600 cu.m of wastewater leaking from the garbage, causing serious pollution to surrounding areas.-Photo zing.vn

Living near the largest dump in the city, residents got so fed up of the problem they took it upon themselves to obstruct the trucks carrying garbage to the dump. The last such incident happened on September 22 and 23.

Anger rose further after the city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment in July announced that the Khanh Son dump would not be closed next year as previously planned.

Instead, the dump would be closed as soon as the city’s solid waste treatment plant is opened in 2022.

Chairman of Lien Chieu District People’s Council Duong Thanh Thi said that for years, people living in Hoa Khanh Nam Ward have complained about the dump and the pollution it caused.

“They send their complaints to the district authorities daily and we called on them to calm down and wait,” Thi said, adding that “the People’s Council now don’t know how to talk to their voters about the delay.”

Nguyen Thi Hanh, a local resident said that she really wanted to “invite” relevant agencies to come and stay at her house for a few days so they can understand how badly the pollution affects daily life.

“When the dump is moved is not as important as how its pollution is tackled now,” Hanh said, desperate for measures to ease the “terrible smell” from the dump.

Nguyen Thi Thanh, another resident, said at a meeting between residents and the city’s leaders early this month that nearly 2,000 families in Khanh Son Ward lived with the obnoxious smell, dirt and wastewater leaking from the dump.

“People say that Da Nang is a ’liveable city’, but thousands of us are living near the dump site, breathing polluted air. Is it fair to us?” she said.

Tran Thi Ngai, also from Hoa Khanh Nam Ward, said that the dump is now a mountain of garbage and it cannot be removed overnight.

“We understand that. But we want city authorities to realise their commitment on when they’ll close the dump,” Ngai said.

“The city planned to offer support for families living in affected areas including tuition fees for their children, environment fee exemptions and clean water but what we lose most is our health,” Ngai said.

Vice chairman of Da Nang City People’s Committee Nguyen Ngoc Tuan said that the city must push back the deadline for the removal of Khanh Son Dump to 2022.

He said the city People’s Committee and People’s Council were considering the roadmap to close and remove the dump.

Last week, the city People’s Committee announced that the city would invest about VND190 billion (US$8,200) to upgrade parts of Khanh Son landfill.

Without the upgrades, the dump will only be able to handle garbage until May 2020, while the landfill is supposed to continue operations until 2022 when the city’s solid waste treatment plant opens.

Khanh Son landfill receives over 900 tonnes of waste daily plus about 500-600 cu.m of wastewater leaking from the garbage.