VietNamNet Bridge – As of March 2012, a working group of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee will survey mining activities in some provinces, focusing on coal, iron, bauxite, titanium and gold mines.
Members of the working group met on January 7, with the participation NA Vice Chairman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, to discuss the supervisory plan.

Vice Chair of the NA Committee for Science, Technology and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan said that the survey aims to consider matters associated with mining activities and propose effective measures to deal with these problems.

Besides field trips to some provinces like Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Lam Dong and Lao Cai, the working group will consider reports of relevant ministries and agencies. The group will collect information from various sources to compile an independent report from the Government’s report.

The report will concentrate in the current situation and environment pollution at mining sites as well as solutions. The initial results will be reported at the NA Standing Committee’s meeting in August 2012 and to the NA in the year-end session.

The working group will comprise members of NA’s specialized committees, government agencies, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and experts from the Vietnam Union of Scientific and Technological Associations and some institutes.

Mining activities have exposed many problems. Mining heated up sessions of the previous NA.

At the cabinet meeting in October 2011, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung asked related ministries and bodies to check licensed and operating mining projects and to suspend projects that break the rules. He also requested these agencies to research and submit to the government, legal documents that urge good implementation of the Mineral Law.

Le Nhung