VietNamNet Bridge – Binh Duong Province, which has fruitlessly spent VND4.47 trillion (US$229.2 million) in the last three years to clean up the pollution caused by industries, has decided to double the outlay for the next five years.

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The People's Committee said although 33 environmental projects have been undertaken since 2007, they have not managed to clean up the pollution caused by the discharge of untreated effluents into rivers, mainly from local industrial parks.

It admitted that the quality of water in the Sai Gon and Dong Nai rivers and their canals has declined – pollution is three times the permitted level in the former and 2.5 times in the latter.

The Vinh Binh Canal, which flows into the Sai Gon, is one of the most polluted canals.

Authorities found Dong An I Industrial Park in Thuan An District to be the biggest polluter. It was caught red-handed discharging thousands of cubic metres of untreated waste into the canal.

But Hung Thinh Joint Stock Company, the owner of the industrial park, rejected this, claiming some companies outside the park were responsible for the pollution.

Di An General Hospital has been among those found releasing untreated waste into the environment.

The province had set itself a target of having at least 50 per cent of all factories conforming to environmental standards this year, but the failure is clear – only 16 per cent actually do.

Another problem is that most small-scale industries are located outside industrial parks and do not have waste-treatment facilities.

The People's Committee admitted that one of the main reasons for the serious pollution is that officials have failed to be tough on violators.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News