Vietnam Urges EPZs, IPs to Protect Environment
The Vietnamese government is requesting all 230 industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) to beef up environment protection as only a fifth of them are treating wastes.
The untreated wastewater released by EPZs and IPs is one million cubic meters a day, accounting for over a third of the country’s total wastewater.
The Vietnam Urban Environment and Industrial Zone Association estimates solid industrial wastes at IPs and EPZs will reach 4.9 million tons a year by 2010, mostly in Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City.
Meanwhile, toxic waste, which accounts for 25 per cent of total waste amount, is mostly discharged by light and chemical industries. It is not treated properly since most zones have no facilities for collecting and treating it.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) said the national zoning plan envisaged setting up 91 new IPs with a total area of 20,800 hectares by 2015 and expanding 22 existing IPs by 3,500 hectares.
It is targeted to triple the number of zones having waste-water treatment facilities that meet environmental standards to 65 per cent this year and reach 100 per cent by next year.
Tran Ngoc Hung, deputy head of the MPI’s Industrial Park Management Department, said the ministry is working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to draft regulations for protecting the environment at IPs and EPZs. (Vietnamnet, VNA)
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