VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has decided to use one million cubic metres of sludge from the Vinh Tan 1 Thermal Power Plant to reclaim land from the sea for building the Vinh Tan General Port in the central province of Binh Thuan.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has decided to use one million cubic metres of sludge from the Vinh Tan 1 Thermal Power Plant to reclaim land from the sea for building the Vinh Tan General Port in the central province of Binh Thuan. — Photo zing.vn

The port will spread over 141 hectares, including 51 hectares of reclaimed land.

Vinh Tan, to become one of the key national seaports, is expected to cost VND2.3 trillion (US$100 million).

The ministry will work closely with the Binh Thuan People’s Committee and the ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Industry and Trade to monitor the project.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has instructed the ministries of Natural Resources and Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Industry and Trade, the Viet Nam Academy of Science and Technology, and the People’s Committee to study how to effectively use sludge for land reclamation and preventing landslides in threatened areas but without compromising on environmental protection.

The sludge from the thermal power plant was originally planned to be dumped very near the Hon Cau Marine Protected Area (MPA), which has coral reefs and sea grass and a large number of marine creatures.

Besides, the waters off Binh Thuan play a very important role in the country’s marine bio-diversity and are rich in resources. Its fisheries yields are much higher than in any other region, and the sea bottom has sand and stones, making it an ideal habitat for many precious fisheries species like lobsters.

Binh Dinh and Binh Thuan are the two provinces that supply naturally caught lobsters to other provinces like Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, and Ninh Thuan for breeding.

Lobster farming is worth several thousands of billons of dong (tens million of US dollar) each year and creates several thousand jobs.

Besides, Binh Thuan is among those provinces that have optimal quality of seawater, supplies a third of all brood shrimp for farming, and is thus expected to play a major role in achieving the country’s target of exporting shrimps worth $10 billion by 2025.

Binh Thuan Province plans to build five new thermal power plants, and the problem of how to dispose of sludge is for sure not going away anytime soon.

Source: VNS