Inadequacies in decentralization of wastewater treatment system management at Nam Cam Industrial Park

Mr. Pham Van Hoa - Chief of Office of the Provincial People's Council chaired the meeting. Photo: Minh Chi

Investment is not synchronized

Nghe An Infrastructure Development Construction Investment One Member Co., Ltd. was assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to manage and operate Nam Cam Industrial Park, with a total area of ​​over 371 hectares. And currently, this Industrial Park has 59 projects licensed for investment, of which 45 projects are in operation in the Southeast Economic Zone.

According to the company's leader's report, Nam Cam Industrial Park is planned into 3 functional areas, including areas A, B, C and assigned to the investor.

Accordingly, based on the environmental impact assessment report approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the enterprise has implemented the construction of a number of environmental protection works such as a surface drainage system, a wastewater treatment system for area B to collect and treat wastewater from enterprises in areas B and C, and planted trees; periodically monitored and regularly monitored the environmental protection work of enterprises to promptly detect and prevent violations of environmental protection.

However, despite being in operation for more than 10 years, environmental protection works in the Industrial Park have not yet been invested in synchronously. Specifically, the surface drainage system in Area B has not been invested in, but is currently using the natural earthen ditch system and the drainage system along both sides of National Highway 1A and the traffic route in Area B. This causes local flooding, affecting the operations of businesses and people's lives because the water cannot drain in time when it rains heavily.

On the other hand, currently in area A, wastewater from enterprises has not been connected to the general wastewater collection and treatment system of the industrial park invested in area B. Meanwhile, the wastewater treatment capacity in area B has only reached 2,500 m3/day and night and compared to the total amount of wastewater generated in the industrial park of more than 5,000 m3/day and night, it is not enough.

The delegation supervises the operation of the wastewater treatment system built in area B. Photo: Minh Chi

Inadequacies in management decentralization

Based on the monitoring of environmental protection work at Nam Cam Industrial Park and working with the company, the members of the monitoring team pointed out the shortcomings in the current management decentralization at Nam Cam Industrial Park: the management of industrial park infrastructure is assigned to Nghe An Infrastructure Development Construction Investment One Member Co., Ltd., but the management and operation of the wastewater treatment system in Zone B is assigned to the Management Board of Dong Nam Economic Zone. Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, Head of the Control Department, Provincial Department of Environmental Protection, said that according to regulations, this system must be assigned to Nghe An Infrastructure Development Construction Investment One Member Co., Ltd. for management.

This is the reason why when the Chief of Office of the Provincial People's Council Pham Van Hoa asked how many enterprises in the Industrial Park have and have not connected to the centralized wastewater treatment plant, Chairman of the Board of Directors Dinh Van Quang did not know exactly.

The working group directly supervises at Nam Cam Industrial Park. Photo: Minh Chi

Pointing out some shortcomings in management and environmental assurance in Nam Cam Industrial Park, Chief of Office of the Provincial People's Council Pham Van Hoa suggested that the company should work with the Provincial People's Committee and the Management Board of Dong Nam Economic Zone to promote the completion of the environmental protection infrastructure system in the Industrial Park to be confirmed to have completed environmental protection works according to regulations.

In addition to maintaining regular monitoring, it is necessary to accelerate the construction and operation of automatic monitoring systems; at the same time, pay attention to handling mud after dredging the surface drainage system in accordance with regulations and closely monitor the environment for enterprises in the industrial park.