“For a long time, EIA has been considered an ‘almighty tool’ to control the whole life cycle of projects. This is a blunder,” said Mai The Toan from the Department of Policy, Legislation and Inspection under the General Directorate of Environment.

The simultaneous existence of many post-EIA legal documents confuses management agencies and investors.

Under the current regulations, EIAs are required for many types of projects, while the requirements on procedures are nearly the same for projects with different impact levels on the environment. 

One of the important changes in the draft of the amended law on environmental protection relates to environmental impact assessment (EIA).

In many cases, projects have inconsiderable impacts on the environment, but investors still have to follow a lot of procedures as they belong to the group of projects which need approval from the National Assembly and Prime Minister for investment (the projects in education, culture and sports), or belong to the group of projects that use land in natural reserves, national parks, historical - cultural relics, world heritage sites, biosphere reserves, and ranked scenic places (projects to renovate historical areas, roads and camps)

Meanwhile, many projects with high pollution risk are implemented in densely populated areas, with low environmental load, causing urgent environmental problems.

The causes are the lack of national environmental protection planning, lack of spatial planning in the types of region; strict protection; limited emissions; and priority for socio-economic development.

Under the current law, EIA is the base for management agencies to monitor and inspect projects during their implementation. However, this is unreasonable, because in the implementation process, environmental problems may change and they will be different compared with what was reported in the EIA.

Some experts say that EIA is just a formality. All investment projects have EIA, but pollution risks still exist.

Vedan’s discharge of untreated wastewater harmed the Thi Vai River system some years ago and the lives of people in the eastern part of the southern region. Formosa discharged dirty water causing massive fish deaths in the central region. Environmental scandals in Phu Tho, Thanh Hoa and Bac Ninh have also been reported.

The EIAs for Dong Nai 6 and Dong Nai 6A hydropower projects said the projects would not harm natural ecosystems with rare and precious flora and fauna that need protection.

But inspectors later found that the two hydropower projects would encroach on 137.5 hectares of the Cat Tien National Park, and the hydropower area would be the primary habitat area.

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