A view of Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh (Photo: VNA)According to Formosa’s report andits roadmap to fix the incident and monitor the environment, as of May 2017, thequality of seawater in 19 beaches in the provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh,Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue is in safe level.
Wastewater released by thecompany has met Vietnam’s standards since July 27, 2017. The quality of water,seabed deposit and coastal aquatics near Formosa’s factory basically met permissiblelevels. However, the underground water taken from five places in and outsidethe company failed some environmental indexes.
The Ministry of Natural Resourcesand Environment reported that Formosa has paid fine and basically fixed itsadministrative violations. Among 22 work items, 12 have been completed andqualified for official operation, while 6 are in test run and the remaining fourare yet to be commissioned. The firm is scheduled to finish the shift from “wet”coking system to “dry” method by June 2019.
The incident was first spotted on April 6, 2016 whenmassive dead fish washed ashore in Ha Tinh and then in Quang Binh, Quang Triand Thua Thien Hue.
About 70 tonnes of dead fish were found in the four provincesand Thua Thien-Hue alone reported 35 tonnes of farmed fish had died.
The pollution also affected more than 260,000 people whoearn their living from the sea.
In June 2016, Formosa acceptedresponsibility for the mass fish deaths and pledged compensation to localfishermen and to help recover the polluted marine environment.
Thanks to urgent support forfishermen in the four affected localities, the locals’ livelihoods have beenbasically stabilized.
At the same time, aquatic sourceshave seen initial recovery with the reappearance of many species. As many as70-80 percent of fishing boats operating near the shore and 90 percent ofoffshore fishing vessels have resumed their operation.
The distribution of Formosa’s compensationhas been conducted in an open and transparent manner.
In order to deal with issuesrelated to the incident, the Prime Minister has asked ministries, sectors andlocalities directly involved to strictly review and assess the incident’s impacts and consequences, while effectivelyimplementing compensations and support to fishermen.
The PM also underlined the needto keep a close and long-term watch on Formosa’s moves to fix the incident andimplement regulations on environment, and promptly handle individuals and organizationswith violations.
The Ministry of Natural Resourcesand Environment has been assigned to work with localities to set up environmentmonitoring systems in central provinces, while the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development is tasked to define losses and implement compensation andsupport to recover production and ensure social security for affected people aswell as recover aquatic resources and ecosystems.
The Ministry of Health has alsobeen assigned to implement regular supervision and tests to seafood caught in thefour localities and promptly inform the results to the community.
All the relevant ministries andsectors have been requested to submit reports on Formosa’s responsibilities tothe Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment by May 15 before they aresent to the PM later.-VNA
VNA
