Vinh City has many illegal construction waste 'gathering sites'

Illegal dumping sites

For many years, people living on the northern bank of the Vinh River in the wards of Cua Nam, Hong Son, Vinh Tan and Trung Do used to call Vinh Giang Street the “suffering street”. This is because on both sides of the street, which has a name reminiscent of the old Vinh street, there are often many types of garbage and many “discharge points”, so the Vinh River is also heavily polluted.

Therefore, for a long time, the People's Committees of Cua Nam, Hong Son, Vinh Tan and Trung Do wards have focused very strongly on urban beautification work, implementing many environmental protection measures to make Vinh Giang road cleaner and more beautiful.

In fact, there were times when Vinh Giang Street was clear and clean. Garbage only existed in a few locations, such as behind Vinh Market, but only at certain times of the day. But at present, the problem of illegal dumping of waste has returned, of which the most common is construction waste. On December 19, observing Vinh Giang Street, there were many locations where construction waste appeared.

The worst part is the last section in Trung Do ward. Vinh Giang street in Trung Do ward has almost no residential houses, it is a dead-end street with few people passing by, so the entire length of about five hundred meters has become a construction waste collection point. Construction waste is dumped on both sides of the road. Gradually, some locations have become garbage mounds, the garbage overflowing, narrowing the roadway, only enough for one lane of cars to pass.

At the end of Vinh Giang street there is a collection point for household waste.Nghe An Urban Construction and Environment Joint Stock Company, there are always people who make a living by sorting garbage and collecting scrap. Around noon, late at night, or early in the morning, people transport construction waste to dump in this area. This situation has been going on for a long time, but no one has reminded...

Le Ninh Street, passing through Quan Bau Ward, previously had a domestic waste transfer point, considered a "garbage route" due to heavy pollution. To eliminate the "black spot" of environmental pollution, in early 2024, the domestic waste transfer point was relocated. Since February 2024, the People's Committee of Quan Bau Ward has spent a lot of effort organizing propaganda, organizing patrol forces to detect and record waste litterers... They even called for socialization to have a source of funding to contract for collection and cleaning of waste on both sides of the road corridor. However, up to now, the situation of illegal dumping of construction waste has recurred, with new mounds of construction waste appearing on both sides of Le Ninh Street corridor...

Not hiding this situation, according to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quan Bau Ward, Tran Hoang Tuan, the reason is that Le Ninh Street has not been fully invested in, in some sections the population is sparse, there are few people passing by, on the other hand, the socialized funding source mobilized by the ward to pay for garbage collection has run out, so the problem of illegal dumping of garbage recurs.

Chairman of Quan Bau Ward People's Committee Tran Hoang Tuan said: "It is very difficult to handle thoroughly when Le Ninh Street has not been invested in and completed. Quan Bau Ward has determined that it will have to continue to call for and mobilize social resources to have funds to collect waste and clean this street before Tet...".

Because of the sparse population and few people passing by, it is understandable that some sections of Vinh Giang and Le Ninh streets have become illegal dumping sites for waste. However, on some other streets in Vinh city, despite the high density of vehicles and people passing by, construction waste "gathering points" still appear. For example, on the 35m street, there are 2 construction waste "gathering points", one in Hung Loc ward, the other in Hung Hoa commune. Or on the road along Lam river, in the vacant land behind MM Mega Market supermarket, a very large construction waste dumping site has also been formed...

Lack of waste disposal sites?

Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company is the unit that manages and exploits construction waste dumps in Vinh City. Talking about what has been seen on Vinh Giang and Le Ninh streets, a representative of this unit said that after the Vinh City People's Committee closed the Dong Bien Day construction waste dump in Yen Giang block, Vinh Tan ward, the situation of indiscriminate dumping of construction waste has increased along some streets and vacant lots far from residential areas, especially in the lake area in Hung Loc and Hung Dung wards.

He complained: “Currently, the entire city only has one construction waste collection site in Nghi Kim commune that is still operating. Meanwhile, the environmental protection awareness of a part of society is still low, and there are always many construction projects in the area, so the lack of construction waste collection sites has led to this situation. Not only does it ruin the urban beauty, it also pollutes the environment, and our company itself is also very struggling...”.

To learn more, it is known that since June 2, 2009, Vinh City People's Committee issued Decision No. 13/2009/QD-UBND approving the Project of Temporary Construction Waste Collection Sites in the city. According to the project, Vinh City will have 5 construction waste collection sites located in wards and communes: Vinh Tan, Nghi Kim, Hung Dong, Nghi Lien. However, after that, only 2 construction waste collection sites in Vinh Tan ward and Nghi Kim commune came into operation.

Because the collection site in Nghi Kim commune is far away and the transportation cost is high, project investors and households do not choose to dump waste but mainly concentrate on the collection site in Dong Bien Day. Therefore, in 2020, when the collection site in Dong Bien Day was full, Vinh City People's Committee closed it and strictly prohibited organizations and individuals from dumping construction waste here.

And to replace it, the Vinh City People's Committee also issued a document assigning the People's Committees of Hung Loc and Hung Hoa localities to coordinate with the Departments of Management and Investment, Natural Resources and Environment, and Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company to survey, select locations, and plan additional temporary construction waste collection sites. However, this content has not been implemented yet...

Question: What should be done to reduce the problem of dumping construction waste in the wrong place? According to the representative, Nghe An Urban Construction and Environment Joint Stock Company recently re-surveyed Dong Bien Day landfill. Thereby, it was determined that the landfill still has enough area to continue receiving and processing construction waste.

Therefore, the Company has proposed that the Vinh City People's Committee consider, on the one hand, allowing the exploitation of construction soil and rock at Dong Bien Day landfill as materials for site leveling for projects in the city. On the other hand, allowing the continued use of the construction waste landfill here, meeting the needs of organizations and people in the southern part of the city for the collection and treatment of construction waste.

In addition, the Vinh City People's Committee is requested to direct the authorities of wards, communes and related departments to carry out the task of surveying and planning to put into use a number of construction waste collection points in the eastern and western areas of Vinh City.

“The amount of construction waste generated in the city is increasing. If there is a lack of suitable and convenient dumping sites, the problem of dumping waste in the wrong place will still exist, causing social outrage…” – a representative of Nghe An Urban Environment and Construction Joint Stock Company shared.