VietNamNet Bridge – A project to build a 200ha cemetery close to the Dong Nai River poses a threat to the resource that supplies clean water for over 10 million people in HCM City and Dong Nai Province, experts say.

According to the Dong Nai Farming Service Coop (Dona Coop), developer of the Vinh Hang (Eternity) Cemetery, the new, private facility has the capacity to be the last resting place for 100,000 people.

Dona Coop will invest some VND500 billion (US$24.2 million) in the first stage of the project, which is expected to become operational by the end of 2011.

The area under the project will be expanded from 116ha in the first stage to over 200ha in the second.

The cemetery project was introduced as the best and most modern cemetery in Viet Nam by Dona Coop early last month.

However, it is located only 100m from the Dong Nai River in eponymous province's Vinh Cuu District.

Dr Nguyen Minh Hoa, head of Urbanisation Studies at the HCM City University of Social and Human Sciences, said burying 100,000 dead bodies in an area close to the upper section of the Dong Nai River would cause "very big problems."

"It [the cemetery] will seriously affect the quality of the water resource used by millions of residents in the Southern Focal Economic Zone, especially the population of HCM City," Hoa was quoted as saying by Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper.

In addition to the Thien Tan Water Plant which supplies clean water to residents of Dong Nai Province, the river feeds the Binh An BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) Water Plant, the Thu Duc Water Plant and the Thu Duc BOO (Build-Own-Operate) Water Plant in the lower section of the river. These three plants supply some 1.2 million cubic metres of clean water per day to 10 million residents in HCM City.

In its environment impact assessment report for the cemetery project, Dona Coop said that before burying, the concrete structure of each tomb would be built with a water-proof materials covering its bottom, aiming to minimise the impact they would have on the environment.

Tran Quoc Buu, an expert on environment and water resources, said the risk of the cemetery polluting the Dong Nai River could not be ignored.

"It would be better to re-locate the cemetery in another place far away from the river to ensure safety of the water resource as well as the health of millions who rely on water from the Dong Nai River for their daily use," said Buu.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News