VietNamNet Bridge - Hundreds of residents of Thanh Son commune, Tinh Gia district in Thanh Hoa province flocked to the local government office to oppose a planned waste treatment project.

In the past few days, they surrounded the head office of the communal government to raise objections about the project to be located in a local field. They brought food and water with them to show their determination to stay until the local administration reconsidered the project.

An elderly man said about two weeks ago some people brought special tools to the local field to survey and measure the area Local residents knew that the communal government would build a waste processing plant there.

"The waste treatment plant will be built just over a hundred of meters from residential areas. Certainly when it becomes operational, the plant will directly affect water resources and pollute the air in a vast area in the commune. We are very worried and will oppose this project," said local man Tong Van Dinh.

People hang environmental protection slogans on the village gate. Photo: Tinh Gia.

Local people said they had not been informed of the scale and impact of the project. "We ask the local administration to make public the project so we can discuss it in a democratic way," said another local man Pham Van Chung.

In addition to the fear of environmental problems, people also are worried about losing agricultural land because this is the major field in the region. "Most of us are farmers, so if the states revoke rice land, we don’t know what to do," a local resident said.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Secretary and Chairman of Tinh Gia district, said this  plant would be built to server the Nghi Son economic zone and Tinh Gia urban area. It was approved by the  provincial government.

He said the district government would negotiate with local residents.

In mid-July, hundreds of people from Dan Luc commune of Trieu Son district, Thanh Hoa gathered to protest the implementation of a waste burying project on a local hill. That project has been canceled.

Le Ha