VietNamNet Bridge - Coal exploiters have been warned they will have to pay higher environmental fee of up to VND14,000 per ton, an increase of VND4,000 per ton if the draft decree compiled by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) gets government’s approval.

Under the draft decree from the ministry open to public opinion on September 4, mineral exploiters will have to pay a higher environment fee. 

Under Decree No 74, the fee levels are between VND6,000 and VND10,000 per ton. MOF wants to lift the levels to VND6,000-14,000 per ton.

The required fee would fund the implementation of measures to minimize the bad consequences caused by the mining activities to the local environment.

MOF, which emphasizes the importance of the kind of fee, said in the last three years, the fee collection has been playing a very important role in rehabilitating the environment in mining areas.

In 2012, the environment fee collected was VND2.137 trillion. The figures were VND2.495 trillion in 2013 and VND2.571 trillion in 2014.

Environmentalists have shown their support to the MOF’s plan to raise the environmental fee on mineral exploitation activities, saying that more money is needed to deal with the serious problems caused by the activities. 

Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon reported that the Vietnam Clean Energy Association (VCEA) is going to propose to the government to raise the environmental fee on coal and oil exploitation to help reduce the exploitation of fossil fuel and encourage the production of power from renewable energy sources.

At a meeting held by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) in late July, the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) asked MOF to reduce the environmental protection fee applied to bauxite projects by 10 times.

The miner proposed to apply the fee of VND4,000-5,000 per ton instead of the current VND30,000-50,000 per ton.

A senior executive of Vinacomin, explaining the proposal, said the bauxite mining process is relatively simple because bauxite ore and covered soil have low hardness, therefore, it is not necessary to explode mines during exploitation. 

He said as the polluting level during the bauxite ore exploitation is low, Vinacomin wants a lower environmental protection fee.

Commenting about the proposal, Dr. Ho Uy Liem from the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) said this was ‘unacceptable’.

“Authentic enterprises have to obey the laws on taxes and environment protection fee,” he said.

Nguyen Ba Thuyen, deputy head of the Lam Dong provincial National Assembly Deputies’ delegation, said that Vinacomin has to pay the environment protection fee as stipulated by law, even if it makes a profit or takes a loss.

Kim Chi