VietNamNet Bridge – A big budget has been allocated every year to fix the environmental problems. However, observers say if the huge sums of money cannot be spent in a reasonable way, the current situation would never be improved.

The government has approved the national program on pollution settlement and environment protection in 2012-2015, under which the 47 most seriously polluted craft villages would be dealt with first. Meanwhile, 100 percent of the existing craft villages have been found as polluted at different levels, which have turned into the big threat to people’s health and put a hard pressure on the society.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE), there are 4575 craft villages in Vietnam, including 1300 traditional craft villages, which generate 11 million jobs in rural areas.

The biggest problem now in the craft villages is that they do not have the waste treatment systems. The solid waste generated during the production has been thrown directly into the environment. Plant protection chemicals have been gradually absorbed into the earth and polluted the underground water, creating dangerous germs of diseases.

An inspection tour to the 100 metal recycling workshops in Chau Khe village of Bac Ninh province recently has found the SO2 content in the specimen products higher by 48-60 times than the allowed level, the dust concentration exceeding the allowed level by 113-230 times, and the NO2 by 50-76 times.

In the copper casting of Phuoc Kieu in the central province of Quang Nam, coal and FO oil has been discharged directly to the local canals, thus polluting the environment seriously.

The coal dust in the air from the craft village has been spread out to other localities, thus causing pollution to a large area, which is considered the main reason behind the 37 percent of patients hospitalized for respiratory relating diseases.

Ho Kien Trung, a senior official of MONRE, said the pollution has occurred in many other craft villages in Hoai Duc and Gia Lam districts in Hanoi, Dai Phu village in Ha Nam, aluminium casting Van Chang village in Nam Dinh, Man Xa in Bac Ninh, the liquor village of Yen Dung in Bac Giang province.

The craft villages gather small and medium scaled production households, located in residential quarters. The careers have been descended from generations to generations, while the technologies have not been upgraded, which makes the environment pollution here inevitable.

Also under the program on the pollution settlement in 2012-2015, the projects on gathering and treating waste water from urban areas which have been discharging directly to the Nhue, Day and Cau rivers in the north and the Dong Nai River system in the south would be implemented.

The total budget for the program is 5863 billion dong, a huge sum of money.

However, analysts still keep cautious when talking about the feasibility of the program. This is not for the first time the government budgets huge sums of money to fix the environmental problems in craft villages. However, the situation has not been improved much.

Dr Huynh Trung Hai from the Environment Science and Technology Institute has pointed out that the mismanagement has led to fact that the state’s money has been wasted, because the money did not go to the right addresses.

Compiled by C. V