A test run of the first blast furnace of Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company must undergo strict supervision after the firm restarted its operations on May 29, said an official.

Examination at the company

Hoang Duong Tung, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Environment Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), made the statement at the ministry’s press conference in Hanoi the same day.

A delegation went to the company last week to inspect the blast furnace, Tung said, adding that samples of wastewater are collected every five minutes for examination.

​C gave Formosa the green light to test the blast furnace on May 10 after the company fixed 52 out of 53 faults. Continuous examinations from July 2016 showed that Formosa’s wastewater met national standards on steel sewage and industrial sewage.

In April last year, wastewater discharged from the Taiwan-based steel company polluted more than 200 kilometres of coastline, devastating the marine environment and local economies of central Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces which have been largely relied on fishing and tourism.

Four months later, the company owned up to its mistake, offering a public apology and pledging 500 million USD as compensation for affected fishermen, households and organisations.

VNA