VietNamNet Bridge – Under the current regulations, projects’ investors have to submit the reports on the possible impacts of the projects on the environment. However, experts have doubts about the honesty of the reports.

Whether to allow to build Dong Nai 6 and Dong Nai 6A hydropower projects on Dong Nai river has become a hot topic among the public.

The statement of Nguyen Viet Dung, Deputy Director of the Center for People and the Nature, as saying that “the report on the environmental impacts of the Dong Nai 6 hydropower project is just a copy” has stirred up the public. The statement is understood that the hydropower plant projects’ investors just made the reports for form’s sake by copying other reports.

A question has been raised that if the environment reports are trustworthy. No one could imagine how serious the consequences the unreliable reports would bring.

Meanwhile, Dr Le Huy Ba, Head of the Institute of Science, Technology and Environmental Management under the HCM City University of Industry, said on Saigon tiep thi on July 18 that 90 percent of reports on environmental impacts are unreliable.

“I believe that the reports on possible environmental impacts of Dong Nai 6 and Dong Nai 6A still have problems. However, honestly speaking, 90 percent of the reports have the same problems,” he said.

Ba has pointed out that the current mechanism encourages scientists to report wrong things. It is simply because it is the projects’ investors, not the State, who hire scientists to make environment reports. Therefore, it is understandable that scientists, who are paid by projects’ investors, cannot say the things which do not bring benefits to investors.

“Only when you speak kindly of investors, will they pay money to you,” Ba explained.

According to Ba, in order to settle the current problem, the State should set up a fund and assign a capable company to make research on environmental impacts. The reports must go through strict examination, while consultants, the projects’ investors have to defend the reports at the meetings with the presence of the state agencies.

Ba went on to say that environment reports were reliable 20 years ago, but they have become less reliable recently. It is partially because consultancy firms and agencies have mushroomed, which have to compete with each other to obtain orders by offering low service fees.

Of course, investors would choose the consultants who can provide services at lowest possible fees. The most important goal for all the environment reports is the ratification by state management agencies.

Nguyen Dinh Xuan, Director of the Lo Go-Xa Mat National Park in Tay Ninh province, a National Assembly’s Deputy, who has nine-year experiences in verifying environment reports, has confirmed that many environment reports have been drawn up according to the will of investors.

In general, investors hire the consultancy firms, which have “close relations” with inspection state agencies, to make environment reports for them, because they hope that the close relations would help them “go through” the inspection.

The problem is that the people, who have the right to approve the projects, only access the projects via reports, while they do not spend time going to the sites. Besides, it is the projects’ investors, who spend money to make the environment impacts. As a result, the report makers only dare to write the things that may satisfy investors. Especially, they even “draw” the advantageous things which do not exist in reality.

According to Xuan, it is necessary to change the current mechanism on making environment reports. Investors would still have to pay for environment survey, but only a consultancy council would have the right to define the surveyors.

Source: SGTT