VietNamNet Bridge – The National Assembly (NA) needs to make public the list of deputies who back or protest bauxite mining projects for the people and the history to judge their act, suggested deputy Duong Trung Quoc.

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Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen.

 

Quoc spent each of the seven minutes he was allocated to point out the problems of the bauxite projects at the NA meeting on November 2.

He said that he didn’t feel reassured by the response given by Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) Pham Khoi Nguyen’s against environmental worries over bauxite projects.

Earlier, Nguyen told the NA that environmental solutions for bauxite projects had been scientifically checked and they satisfy the standards of Vietnam and the world.

According to him, MoNRE set up a 21-member appraisal council, consisting of 18 scientists, to evaluate environmental impacts of the projects. The council was backed by a network of institutes and universities. The Ministry also sent working groups to several countries to survey their bauxite mining projects.

He emphasized that bauxite projects will be accompanied by afforestation in order to counteract the deforestation for building bauxite plants. These projects will exploit several dozens of million tons out of the total reserve of billion tons in the Central Highlands so they will not highly affect the soil and water resources.

He added that the investor, Vietnam Coal and Mineral Group (Vinacomin), had been told to apply the most modern technology and materials available.

“Even in the worst case – if the red mud reservoir is broken, we have asked Vinacomin to reserve around 50 hectares to contain the mud,” Nguyen said.

Deputy Duong Trung Quoc

 

MoNRE has had an archive department of bauxite-related documents available to scientists and constituents, Nguyen said.

Deputy Duong Trung Quoc said he appreciated Minister Nguyen’s presentation but  still didn’t feel reassured. Quoc used the word “emotionless” to describe the government’s report on bauxite, which didn’t mention the red mud spill in Hungary.

He again questioned the environmental safety and economic gains of the bauxite projects. “It seems that both the NA and the Government see bauxite story as a fait accompli,” he remarked.

He noted that the environmental report that Minister Nguyen mentioned in his own report was compiled a year ago while the incident in Hungary occurred in early October so effectively his report refers to old information.

He stressed that if accidents occur with bauxite projects, the losses will be more serious than the Vinashin case (which incurred debt of over $4 billion).

“Vinashin caused money and personnel losses but if accidents happen at the bauxite projects, the consequence will affect the country’s fortune. Thus, I ask the NA to make public the names of NA deputies who vote for or against bauxite projects for the people today and the history to judge their act,” he said.

PV