Prioritize funding for pollution treatment in areas where plant protection chemicals remain

(Baonghean.vn) - Voters in some localities have proposed that the relevant agencies should advise the province to research and issue policies to support funding for pollution treatment and remediation and reduce environmental degradation. In the immediate future, the focus will be on key areas with residual pesticides that affect people's health and lives.

Regarding this issue, the relevant authorities responded as follows:

Up to now, the locality has been focusing on implementing key areas of pesticide residues in soil (20 projects), seriously affecting people's health and lives according to the treatment plan in Decision 1946/QD-TTg and the National Target Program.

Handling pesticide residues in hamlet 2 Kim Lien, photo by My Ha, illustration

The cost of treating all polluted sites is huge, while local budgets are limited; Projects are applied according to the support mechanism stipulated in Decision No. 58/2008/QD-TTg and Decision No. 38/2011/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister. The policy of supporting treatment costs from the central budget is limited to 50% of the project treatment costs and does not support the cost of investigation and site clearance.

Therefore, the Provincial People's Committee has issued a document requesting the Central Ministries and branches to consider and decide on a specific support mechanism for treatment costs for Nghe An province, the province with the most polluted spots due to residual pesticides in the whole country.

At the same time, direct specialized agencies to prioritize and allocate funds for investigating and assessing the scope of pollution levels caused by residual plant protection chemicals as well as funding for treatment and restoration projects.

PV (TH)