Polluting nearly 11 hectares of agricultural land, the company has refused to compensate for 9 years.

Nearly 11 hectares of abandoned agricultural land

Opening the iron cabinet and holding a stack of documents nearly a hand's breadth thick, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Quang - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Dong Commune (Vinh City) shook his head and said: The press has come here to investigate and write many articles, but so far there has been no change. Now people do not send petitions, nor gather in large numbers at the People's Committee of the commune, but every voter meeting has opinions. The commune now does not know how to respond to the people, because after many meetings, there have been many directive documents, but up to now, Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company still refuses to compensate the people.

Wastewater discharged by Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company into local rice fields is milky white. Photo taken on July 15, 2010.

The incident Mr. Quang mentioned started in late 2009. At that time, people with fields in Bau Dong area suffered from itching, rice died and had low productivity. After a while, many agricultural areas could not be cultivated due to serious pollution caused by wastewater from Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company.

After the people filed a complaint, the People's Committee of Hung Dong commune inspected and discovered that the factory was discharging opaque white and brown water with a strong odor into the cooperative's ditch and into the rice fields where people were currently planting winter-spring rice.

In June 2010, during an inspection of environmental protection in the province, the inspection team of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment took wastewater samples from Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company. The results of wastewater quality analysis showed that the company discharged wastewater with 16/30 parameters exceeding technical standards and regulations, causing serious environmental pollution, especially for the drainage ditch of Dong Vinh HXT.

The Inspectorate of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment then decided to administratively fine Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company more than 47 million VND and forced the company to immediately stop discharging wastewater containing hazardous substances exceeding technical standards into the environment.

For more than 9 years, Bau Dong field has been covered with reeds and weeds. People cannot cultivate it because of serious pollution. Photo: Pham Bang

Mr. Tran Anh Tan - Chairman of Hung Dong Commune People's Committee affirmed that the environmental pollution in Bau Dong field has been happening since 2009, when Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company started operating. At that time, Bac Vinh Industrial Park did not have a wastewater treatment system, the factory discharged directly into the field of nearly 11 hectares of Hung Dong Agricultural Cooperative 1. Since then, people whose fields there have had to leave them fallow and cannot produce. The issue has not been resolved completely, making the people of Hung Dong commune angry and they have arbitrarily blocked the ditch, not allowing the company to discharge waste into Bau Dong.

In response to the people's petitions, the Provincial People's Committee and Vinh City People's Committee have organized many inspections, worked and concluded that the Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company discharged waste into Bau Dong, polluting the agricultural land of the people for nearly 11 hours. The Provincial People's Committee requested Vinh City People's Committee to direct Hung Dong commune to review, count the area and extent of damage and coordinate with the company to unify the data so that the company can compensate according to the regulations in Decree No. 113/2010/ND-CP.

On December 20, 2011, Vinh City People's Committee held a meeting to resolve the compensation for damages to the people of Hung Dong commune, but Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company did not come to work and did not cooperate with the local authorities. At the same time, Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company sent Official Dispatch No. 80/2011/CTCP to the Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee and the Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee, stating that they did not agree with the compensation for damages to the people of Hung Dong commune.

Has the government been decisive?

Although the Provincial People's Committee, Vinh City People's Committee and other authorities later concluded that Sabeco Company had discharged waste causing environmental pollution on 11 hectares of agricultural land and requested compensation for the people, the company still did not comply. On October 16, 2014, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Huynh Thanh Dien chaired a meeting with Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company to resolve the issue of environmental pollution treatment at the factory in Bac Vinh Industrial Park.

In conclusion, Mr. Huynh Thanh Dien requested the company to coordinate with Vinh City People's Committee, departments and branches to agree on a plan to handle the issue of compensation for environmental pollution in the Bau Dong area in a reasonable and fair manner, ensuring the rights of the parties involved. The province also assigned Vinh City People's Committee to chair the establishment of a working group to handle the above issue.

Photos that the People's Committee of Hung Dong Commune still keeps prove that Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company discharged waste causing environmental pollution. Photo: Pham Bang

On December 29, 2015, the Working Group reported on the results of resolving pollution issues and compensation for environmental pollution damage in Bau Dong area. The Working Group concluded that environmental pollution in Bau Dong area leading to 107,456m2 of agricultural land being unable to produce is real. The cause was determined to be the discharge activities that did not meet environmental protection requirements of the packaging and 2-piece aluminum can manufacturing factory of Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company in Bac Vinh Industrial Park. Given this reality, the Working Group recommended that Sabeco Company be responsible for compensating for damage and remedying environmental pollution according to the request of Hung Dong Commune People's Committee with a total value of more than 4,066 billion VND.

To reach this conclusion, in addition to specific evidence such as images and related legal documents, the Working Group also cited many documents from many competent agencies concluding that Sabeco Company discharged waste causing environmental pollution. Such as: Conclusion No. 374/KL.UBND.DC dated October 2, 2009 of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee affirmed: Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company does not have a wastewater treatment system for the carton packaging production line; Official Letter No. 1386/STNMT-TTr dated June 3, 2010 of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment clearly stated: Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company discharged production wastewater, causing environmental pollution, affecting the production of households, which is real.

Despite being found guilty of polluting the environment, Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company still refuses to compensate the people. Photo: Pham Bang

Report No. 65/BC-KTT dated September 16, 2010 of the Management Board of Dong Nam Economic Zone also affirmed: Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company discharged untreated wastewater causing environmental pollution, affecting the health and life of people in Hung Dong commune, which is well-founded; Notice No. 158/TB-UBND dated May 9, 2011 and Notice No. 493/TB-UBND dated December 21, 2011 of Vinh City People's Committee clearly stated: Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company discharged wastewater into Bau Dong causing environmental pollution, which is clear and has been confirmed...

Faced with such clear conclusions, Sabeco Company has so far refused to compensate the people. On October 24, 2017, the People's Committee of Hung Dong Commune issued Official Letter 681/UBND-NN stating that the agreement to compensate for environmental pollution caused by Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company is not feasible because the company is not cooperating.

Faced with that situation, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Vinh City People's Committee to preside, the Department of Justice, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Management Board of the Southeast Economic Zone to coordinate and guide citizens, and the People's Committee of Hung Dong Commune to file a lawsuit in court to request Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company to compensate for damages according to regulations. However, up to now, the lawsuit against Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company has not been able to be implemented.

According to an official of Vinh City People's Committee who has participated in solving this problem many times, Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company once proposed to support the people of Hung Dong commune with 1.5 billion VND, but until now there has not been a specific document from the company.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Van Binh - Chairman of Hung Dong 1 Cooperative said that the company's discharge of waste into the drainage ditch, causing people to be unable to cultivate, must be compensated, not supported. The calculation to come up with the compensation amount must be satisfactory to the people and reasonable for the company. Sharing the same view, the leader of the Department of Environmental Protection said that the Government has issued Decree 03/2015 on the issue of pollution and compensation for environmental pollution.

Why does Sabeco Song Lam Packaging Joint Stock Company refuse to compensate the people? Is it because this company contributes a large amount of money to the province every year or is it because of the lack of determination of the authorities and functional agencies? When will the legitimate rights of the people be resolved?