Difficulties in handling facilities causing serious environmental pollution

In order to thoroughly handle establishments causing serious environmental pollution in the area, the Provincial People's Council issued Resolution No. 30/2018/NQ - HDND dated December 8, 2018 on approving the "Project to thoroughly handle establishments causing serious environmental pollution in Quang Tri province (Resolution No. 30). However, up to now, the implementation of this resolution still has some difficulties that need to be resolved...

Implementing Resolution No. 30 of the Provincial People's Council, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Plan No. 3955/KH - UBND dated August 28, 2020, coordinating with localities to conduct inspections, reviews, and urge the progress of thoroughly handling establishments causing serious environmental pollution; inspect the progress of implementation at establishments causing environmental pollution and guide units to develop plans to implement environmental pollution treatment, complete the dossier to confirm completion.

The environmental pollution problem at the Thuong Trach vermicelli production village in Trieu Son commune, Trieu Phong district, has been thoroughly handled - Photo: HA

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment reported to the Provincial People's Committee the results of implementing Resolution No. 30 in 2020 and the Provincial People's Committee issued a document urging facilities and localities to speed up the progress of thoroughly handling environmental pollution... In 2021, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment continued to advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue Document No. 12/TTr - UBND dated February 24, 2021 on supporting funding for environmental remediation and restoration due to residual plant protection chemicals in Quang Tri province to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for consideration; propose the Provincial People's Committee to adjust a number of projects to handle environmental pollution at landfills in accordance with the actual funding sources supported by the central budget; Coordinate with specialized units of the General Department of Environment to review and supplement the list of pesticide residue locations in the province according to Decision No. 1946/QD-TTg dated October 21, 2010 of the Prime Minister approving the "Plan to handle and prevent environmental pollution caused by pesticide residues nationwide".

In the period of 2019 - 2021, facilities causing serious environmental pollution need to be thoroughly handled according to Resolution No. 30, including 12 facilities causing serious environmental pollution; 17 points of residual plant protection chemicals. As a result, 10/12 facilities causing serious environmental pollution; 6/17 points of residual plant protection chemicals have been handled. There are 2 facilities causing serious environmental pollution and 11 points of residual plant protection chemicals that have not been handled. From 2022 to present, there are 12 facilities causing serious environmental pollution; 19 points of residual plant protection chemicals. As a result, 4/12 facilities causing serious environmental pollution have been handled; 19 points of residual plant protection chemicals have not been handled.

Head of the Department of Environmental Protection Vo Van Dung said that in recent years, the thorough handling of facilities causing serious environmental pollution in the province has had positive changes. However, up to now, the progress of the handling has not met the plan set out in Resolution No. 30. Because most of the environmental pollution points that have not been treated are the points where plant protection chemicals are stored because funding has not been allocated for implementation. The difficulty in thoroughly handling facilities causing serious environmental pollution in the province at present is that the funding for implementation is mostly supported by the central budget.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has announced funding sources for localities since 2018 (Official Dispatch No. 5550/BTNMT - KHTC dated October 10, 2018 on resource allocation for 2018, 2019 and 2020; Official Dispatch No. 3201/BTNMT - KHTC dated June 23, 2017 on the plan and budget for the second phase of the central environmental career). However, since 2019, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has stopped providing funding for the environmental pollution treatment program.

The Government Office also issued Official Dispatch No. 697/VPCP-NN dated January 26, 2022 requesting localities to allocate resources and local budgets for implementation. Therefore, environmental pollution treatment projects cannot be implemented.

For environmental pollution treatment projects, especially those dealing with residual pesticides, the funding arrangements for the items are divided into many stages, causing difficulties in the treatment process, prolonging the project, making local people in the area upset. For environmental pollution treatment projects in craft villages, funding support has been arranged for localities to implement and localities have invested in completing environmental infrastructure in craft villages.

However, the progress of relocating production households in residential areas to the production areas of craft villages is still slow. To continue implementing Resolution No. 30, the Provincial People's Council and People's Committee need to consider issues such as: for approved environmental pollution treatment projects, implementing environmental pollution treatment according to Resolution No. 30, it is necessary to prioritize allocating sufficient funding to complete phase 1 from the local budget (there are 4 projects to treat environmental pollution caused by chemical residues). After completing phase 1, the project will end in 2024.

For environmental pollution treatment projects that have been approved but not yet implemented (treatment of pesticide residue points, Dong Ha City landfill pollution treatment project), it is proposed to terminate the project.

Assign the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to study and propose a plan to handle environmental pollution in accordance with the criteria of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020. People's Committees of districts, towns and cities prioritize allocating sufficient local capital for the implementation of environmental pollution treatment at markets, concentrated livestock slaughterhouses...

Hai An

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