Thousands of households living near polluted dumping sites in this northern province will soon heave a sigh of relief as they will be closed by the end of this year.

Dang Huy Hau, Deputy Chairman of Quang Ninh Province’s People’s Committee, said he had inspected a number of dumps in Ha Long and Cam Pha cities and found that all of them were overflowing.

In addition, most of the garbage was buried at the dump, causing environment pollution and threatening the health of local residents, he said on Sunday.

Provincial authorities have asked the Indevco Environment One Member Limited Company to quickly develop infrastructure for the Solid Waste Treatment Complex at the Vu Oai and Haa Binh communes in Hoanh Bo District to receive garbage daily from the towns of Ha Long, Cam Pha, Hoanh Bo and Quang Yen from the beginning of next year.

Local authorities have also been ordered to complete necessary procedures to close all the dumps and prepare plans to deal with the aftermath. They have also been told to ensure that the lives of people living in the surrounding areas are not affected.

Since beginning operations 20 years ago, the Quang Hanh dump in Cam Pha City and the Deo Sen and Ha Khau dumps in Ha Long City have received hundred tonnes of garbage daily.

However, due to the application of out of date technology and the increasing demand for garbage treatment, these dumps are causing serious air and ground water pollution.

Residents residing near these dumps have complained several times to local authorities and even blocked trucks carrying garbage to the dumps to protest the heavy pollution in the area.

VNS