VietNamNet Bridge – Litter has caused the serious pollution to the coastal communes of Hau Loc district in Thanh Hoa province. The waste treatment project has been drawn up, but it has not been kicked off yet.

Collecting rubbish to… throw to the sea

The 2 kilometer embankment segment which goes through the 5 coastal communes of Hau Loc district seems to be the area for rubbish to gather. It is also the place where fish and shrimp trade activities take place every day.

Nguyen Hai Nam, Deputy Chair of the Ngu Loc commune people’s committee, said treating waste remains an unsolved problem for the commune with the area of less than 1 square kilometers and 18,000 residents. Nam admitted that though a lot of measures have been taken, the problem still cannot be settled to the every root.

At present, the garbage is collected and treated by the Thanh Hoa Environment JSC which collects rubbish, throws into the sea, or dries and burns them.

However, the treatment method, according to the local residents, just aims to reassure people, while it is useless. When the tide goes up and down, the big volume of waste thrown by the company in the coastal areas would be swept away. As such, the waste treatment method has generated a new serious problem to the sea ecosystem and people’s lives.

Since the population has been increasing unceasingly, the environment problems have become more serious, which go beyond the capacity of the local authorities.

The district’s authorities decided to set up a dumping ground for the five coastal communes, which is believed to help local people escape from the waste and the bad odor from the waste.

The project stays immovable

The Hau Loc district people’s committee has many times urged the provincial authorities to take actions to ease the environment pollution and clean the sea for a better life for people.

The provincial authorities in 2008 approved the project on setting up a landfill, to be located on an area of 3.2 hectares, and capitalized at VND8.9 billion. It was expected that the waste would be gathered there which would be either dumped or treated with anaerobic tanks.

However, later, realizing that the landfill would be overloaded when it has to deal with the waste from five coastal communes, in 2010, the provincial authorities decided to set up an incinerator instead. The project is expected to be built after 3 years and has the investment capital of VND32.2 billion.

The information about the project then raised a high hope among local people, who were eager for a clean living environment.

However, the incinerator was not built. No money was funneled for the project implementation, after the site clearance and the construction of a road to the dumping area finished.

In August 2012, the provincial authorities once again changed the project, deciding to develop a project at the investment capital of VND19 billion, while the construction is hoped to be completed within 3 years.

Meanwhile, Vu Huy Bo, Deputy Chair of the Minh Loc commune people’s committee, said that if the landfill is set up, it would damage all the aquaculture works in the area. There are 20 livestock farms, 10 hectares of shrimp ponds and 60 hectares of land reserved for aquaculture.

DDK