VietNamNet Bridge – HCM City authorities have asked neighbouring Dong Nai Province to relocate the Bien Hoa Industrial Park No 1 to better protect the water resources of HCM City's nearly 10 million residents.

"Pollution in the Dong Nai River has been increasing, and could exceed the capacity of water treatment plants," the chairman of HCM City People's Committee, Le Hoang Quan, said in a letter sent to the provincial authority of Dong Nai.

"Waste water from Bien Hoa IP No 1 is one of the major sources of waste causing pollution in Dong Nai River," said the letter, as quoted by the Sai Gon Tiep Thi (Sai Gon Marketing) newspaper.

According to the HCM City People's Committee, Dong Nai River is expected by 2025 to supply 2.5 million cubic metres of the estimated 3.7 million cu. m of water to the city per day.

Established in 1963, the plant supplies water to 20 million people in the Dong Nai River basin, including almost 10 million residents of HCM City, according to the document quoted in the newspaper.

After 50 years of operation, Bien Hoa IP No. 1 has significantly contributed to industrial production and development in Dong Nai Province.

However, it has caused serious pollution, especially to the Dong Nai River, the major source of clean water for HCM City and the provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong, according to Tran Van Tu, head of a group of National Assembly deputies from Dong Nai Province.

Bien Hoa IP No 1 discharges over 8 million cu. m of waste water per day, but only 1.2 million cu. m. is collected and treated.

The remaining 7 million cu. m of waste water, as a result, is poured into Dong Nai River every day, said Tu.

"Relocation of polluting plants (in the industrial park) is a necessary and urgent task," he added.

Members of the National Assembly from Dong Nai Province have asked the NA Science-Technology-Environment Committee to conduct a study on the best way to relocate the oldest industrial park in southern Viet Nam.

Tu said the biggest obstacle for relocation was the inability of the province to provide preferential tax rates for companies that must be relocated.

To resolve the problem, the Dong Nai People's Committee asked the Dong Nai Industrial Park Development Corporation (Sonadezi), the investor of Bien Hoa IP No 1, to map out a plan and submit it to the Government and National Assembly for approval.

Do Thi Thu Hang, chairwoman of Sonadezi, said her company had developed a plan that has been approved by the provincial authority.

Businesses in the IP will enjoy a four-year tax exemption, plus a 50 per cent tax reduction for nine years after they relocate, said Hang.

Source: VNS