Review of 5 scandals surrounding the Formosa Ha Tinh mega project

(Baonghean.vn)- Having been in Vietnam for 10 years, but in just the past 2 years, Formosa Ha Tinh has continuously caused controversies, scandals, and public outrage.

Inside the project are city-like buildings.

Established in 1954, Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) is one of Asia's largest, diversified plastics manufacturers headquartered in Taiwan.

In Vietnam, Formosa’s most notable project is the Son Duong iron and steel complex and port (Formosa Ha Tinh). Formosa Ha Tinh has 9 shareholders, of which 7 are members of Formosa Group, holding nearly 95% of the shares.

However, since the start of construction, Formosa has had many scandals such as illegal construction, collapsed scaffolding... and most recently, the suspicion of discharging waste into the sea.

Let's review the "scandals" that Formosa has encountered in Vietnam.

1. More than 3,000 Chinese workers work illegally in Vung Ang, Ha Tinh

As of November 2014, there were more than 3,000 illegal workers in Vung Ang.

As of October 11, 2014, there were 37,511 workers working in Vung Ang Economic Zone. Of which, 31,594 were domestic workers and 5,917 were foreign workers.

The number of workers currently working at the Formosa project is 30,505, including 5,615 foreigners. There are 4,154 Chinese workers working at the Formosa project site and 114 working outside Formosa.

At the Formosa project, there are currently 92 contractors, including 36 main contractors and 56 subcontractors (15 Chinese, 12 Taiwanese, 21 Korean, 43 Vietnamese, and 1 Belgian).

The total demand for foreign labor in Vung Ang is 11,006 workers, of which 13 enterprises have 357 workers and 30 contractors have 10,463 workers.

The People's Committee of Ha Tinh province has agreed to recruit 10,820 foreign workers, with 29 packages alone requiring 10,649 people. The largest number of these are technical workers with 8,124 people, experts with 554 people, and managers and executives with 1,869 people.

Formosa and its subcontractors were slow to complete the relevant legal procedures to submit to the Ha Tinh authorities for licensing, so by that time, the Vung Ang economic zone had 6,121 foreign workers but only 3,261 licenses were issued. Of these, only 1,400/4,154 Chinese workers were licensed, reaching only 36%.

2. Scaffolding collapse in Ha Tinh

Scaffolding collapse killed 13 people and injured 29 others.

At 8:00 p.m. on March 25, 2015, the scaffolding for casting concrete for a caisson at the construction site of the Son Duong Port gravity caisson installation project in the Formosa Industrial Park (Vung Ang Economic Zone, Ky Anh Town, Ha Tinh) collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 29 others. The contractor was Samsung Group, South Korea.

This is the most serious work accident to occur in Ha Tinh in many years.

A representative of Formosa at that time said that the bidding for the construction of the breakwater at Son Duong seaport had strict technical criteria related to the project, and Samsung Group won the bid because the bidding documents met the criteria set by Formosa. Formosa had performed its duties properly, regularly checking and supervising the construction contractor.

Samsung Group has taken primary responsibility for itself.

On December 21, 2015, Ha Tinh People's Court sentenced defendant Kim Jong Wook to 3 years and 6 months in prison, defendants Lee Jea Myeong and Nguyen Anh Tuan to 3 years each, and Nguyen Thai Duc to 30 months for violating labor safety regulations.

3. Building illegal temples

Building a temple without permission from the authorities.

In June 2014, Formosa Ha Tinh Company submitted a document requesting to build a shrine to worship the souls of those whose graves were lost in the Formosa project area, to provide some spiritual comfort to the people around the area and employees in the factory area.

Immediately afterwards, public opinion strongly condemned this proposal of Formosa.

On July 11, 2014, the Standing Committee of Ha Tinh Provincial Party Committee issued Notice No. 510-TB/TU stating that it did not agree with the proposal to build a shrine in the Formosa project.

However, FHS Company still implemented the construction of the temple in the project and completed the rough construction.

In early March 2016, Formosa sent a document inviting the Ha Tinh Buddhist Sangha Executive Committee to preside over the construction of a place of worship and spiritual space at this company.

After receiving the request document from the Ha Tinh Buddhist Executive Committee, the People's Committee of Ha Tinh province sent a document to the departments, the Ha Tinh Economic Zone Management Board, the People's Committee of Ky Anh town... to consider and advise on how to handle the matter.

The 32-meter-high "spiritual symbol tower" for promotional purposes of Formosa Ha Tinh has been "whistled" by the Department of Construction of this province, temporarily stopping construction because it has not yet obtained a permit.

4. Building a spirit tower without permission

At the end of 2015, the Ha Tinh Department of Construction made a record, requesting Formosa Steel Corporation to temporarily suspend the construction of the "spiritual symbolic tower" in front of the company's main gate in Ky Lien ward (Ky Anh town, Ha Tinh).

The tower is built at the Formosa intersection gate, Ky Lien ward (Vung Ang Economic Zone, Ky Anh town, Ha Tinh).

The tower is designed to be 32 meters high, 1 floor, started construction in October with a total capital of about 6 billion VND. The investor is Formosa Company, a company headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, which is the construction unit.

5. Formosa suspected of causing fish deaths in the central coast

Mass fish deaths in the central coastal provinces.

Although there has been no official conclusion on the cause of the deaths of tons of sea fish in Ha Tinh in recent days, many people and some scientists have questioned the waste discharge system of the Formosa project in the Vung Ang Economic Zone (Ky Anh town, Ha Tinh).

Previously, in Vung Ang Economic Zone, there was a mass fish death. The number of dead fish was estimated to be up to tens of tons.

Soon after, some divers reported seeing a large underground pipeline system connecting Formosa's project to the sea.

According to the fishermen, the pipe is about 1.5 km long, more than a meter in diameter, buried shallowly on the seabed, covered with a layer of boulders and sandbags. The water coming out of the pipe is very strong, has a cloudy yellow color, and a foul smell that is difficult to breathe.

Although admitting to having a system of pipes discharging waste into the sea, Formosa's leaders still denied that the reason for the fish deaths was due to Formosa's waste pipes.

A representative of this company said: "Around the discharge canal system, we raise fish to check the water quality. In fact, in our canal, the fish are still alive. If it were due to discharge, the fish in here would die before the fish in the sea. Therefore, the company is confident that it is not doing anything to affect the Vietnamese marine environment."

Pham Bang

(synthetic)