A plan to move nearly 480 production and husbandry units causing pollution out of urban and residential areas in the southern province of Dong Nai has been sluggish, failing to meet its deadline this year.
A plan to move nearly 480 production and husbandry units causing pollution out of urban and residential areas in the southern province of Dong Nai has been sluggish, failing to meet its deadline this year.
The provincial People's Committee issued the decision to remove the units in August 2012, setting a date for completion in 2014. But the province had to extend the deadline to the end of this year.
The provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE)'s latest report shows that most of the units refused to move to industrial clusters equipped with environmental treatment facilities. Only four out of 185 production units have moved, while very few of the 294 husbandry units have moved.
Huynh Huu Nghia, Head of Thai Duong Porcelain and Ceramic Co-operative in Hoa An commune, said the province's decision to move all polluting production units was sound. The units would enjoy a 60 percent discount on infrastructure investment and exempted land lease fees for 11 years.
"However, the enterprises must rebuild their entire workshops when they move to a new place and they need money for that," he said, adding that rebuilding his workshop would cost 40 billion VND (1.8 million USD).
Nghia said he hasn't moved to the Tan Hanh cluster because local authorities have been slow with paperwork on land leasing and building certificates.
Dang Minh Duc, DONRE's deputy director, blamed the delay on the lack of policies on preferential loans for moving units.
"In the current difficult economic times, it is hard for businesses to keep up current production and also set up a new workshop," he said.
Besides financial issues, the sluggish progress can also be blamed on the slow construction of industrial clusters in Dong Nai province.
The province has set a target of constructing 27 industrial clusters covering 4,500 hectares to gather workshops, factories and small production units by 2020. However, statistics from the provincial Department of Industry and Trade show that so far only two clusters have been completed. Ten clusters have investors but seven of them have not broken ground. The remains have not obtained investors. Most of the clusters do not actually have environmental protection treatment facilities.
Vo Van Chanh, Deputy Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, said the province has asked the Department of Industry and Trade to review policies for moving units.
"The deadline for removal is insisted by the end of this year with no extension," he said.
(Source: VNA)
