Compensation for damages caused by the Formosa incident must be public and democratic.

On the afternoon of April 24, under the chairmanship of Politburo member, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, Head of the Steering Committee on solutions to stabilize the lives and production and business for people in the four central provinces affected by the environmental incident, the seventh meeting was held to discuss the handling of the marine environmental incident in the four central provinces and the results of implementing the Deputy Prime Minister's instructions at the sixth meeting.

Fishermen in Duc Trach coastal commune (Bo Trach district) and border guards collect and bury dead fish washed ashore. (Photo: Vo Dung/VNA)

Continue to make compensation payments

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam, the People's Committees of four provinces have allocated the third phase of temporarily granted funds to the district level and are continuing to pay compensation for damages to people.

The provinces have approved the total damage value of VND4,528.52 billion, reaching 85.8% of the total provisional funding of 3 phases of VND5,280 billion from the Prime Minister. As of April 24, the 4 provinces have disbursed VND4,244 billion, reaching 93.7% of the approved amount and 80.4% of the total provisional funding, of which Ha Tinh disbursed VND1,129 billion; Quang Binh VND1,970.7 billion; Quang Tri VND460.9 billion; Thua Thien Hue VND579 billion, reaching 85%.

As of April 23, the amount of seafood purchased from April 2016 to August 2016 (excluding jellyfish products, fish sauce, shrimp paste, dried seafood, marinated seafood, seafood in refrigerators and freezers) after being divided into lots, sampled, tested by the Ministry of Health and reported on November 8, 2016 was 5,369 tons and 4 inspection teams from the provinces reported 6,912.43 tons, an increase of 1,543.43 tons.

To date, 4 provinces have destroyed a total of 1,103.99 tons of seafood stored in warehouses that did not meet food safety standards according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s guidelines. The provinces have only paid 50% of the value of the seafood shipments that did not meet food safety standards and were destroyed because the documents were not complete as required.

Localities are reviewing the records of the remaining seafood in storage to approve, pay compensation and support according to regulations. For seafood in storage that ensures food safety, localities and owners are actively speeding up the consumption process.

Aquaculture production and people's lives in the four central provinces have basically stabilized. Aquaculture resources have clearly recovered; people are actively pursuing production at sea and gradually shifting from bottom fishing to offshore fishing.

The number of fishing boats going out to sea has gradually increased, with coastal fishing boats reaching 70-80% and offshore fishing boats reaching 85-90%.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has mobilized the Fisheries Surveillance force to coordinate with localities to control and guide people not to use bottom fishing near the shore to create conditions for restoring the ecosystem and aquatic resources in coastal areas, ensuring food safety. Seafood output in the first quarter of 2017 reached 25,386 tons, down 8.8% compared to the same period in 2016.

The total aquaculture output of the four provinces in the first quarter of 2017 was 6,279 tons, up 3.12% over the same period in 2016. Currently, localities have been focusing on pond renovation, preparing conditions to continue stocking for the 2017 crop.

Based on the reports of 4 provinces on the quantity and estimated costs arising when adding subjects, the scope of damage with a total estimated cost of 769,926 billion VND; balancing the funding source to implement the project, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed the Prime Minister to approve the policy of compensating for 30% of the value of frozen seafood stored in warehouses to ensure food safety (1,543.43 tons, equivalent to 39.1 billion VND).

This is the amount of frozen seafood in storage exceeding the quantity tested and reported by the Ministry of Health on November 8, 2016 at the 3rd Steering Committee meeting.

The Ministry also proposed to allow the destruction and compensation of 100% of the value of the shipment for damaged jellyfish, dried seafood, and marinated seafood products that cannot be used as food for humans, currently stored in coastal communes/wards/towns and river mouths with a total estimated amount of 377,448 billion VND.

At the meeting, delegates proposed to strictly manage the destruction of unsafe seafood; speed up the progress of declaration, determination and payment of compensation for damages.

Complete compensation for damages before June 30

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh affirmed that with the drastic participation of the entire political system, up to now, production activities and people's lives in the four provinces have basically stabilized, and compensation for damages is being implemented on schedule.

The Deputy Prime Minister welcomed ministries, branches and localities for showing a high sense of responsibility towards people in areas affected by the incident.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested that localities need to correctly identify those directly affected by the environmental incident, prevent negativity and corruption from occurring during the compensation process; promptly pay compensation for damages, complete before June 30, 2017, and switch to supporting people's livelihoods and restoring the marine ecological environment.

Regarding the quantity of seafood stored in localities that has not been tested by the Ministry of Health and exceeds the report at the 3rd Steering Committee meeting (November 2016), the Deputy Prime Minister agreed to allow compensation and support according to regulations.

However, the Deputy Prime Minister noted that the Government will objectively consider compensation for the people, but must ensure accuracy. “False declaration is unacceptable and in the spirit of mobilizing people, we must also be honest. If the declaration is correct and has been confirmed, the Government will compensate,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

The Deputy Prime Minister also affirmed the view that if there is sufficient basis, compensation must be made in accordance with regulations. If there is no basis, then compensation must definitely not be made, and compensation must not be made indiscriminately. Compensation must be made public and democratic.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to be responsible to the Prime Minister for the volume, number of subjects, scope of compensation and ensure publicity and democracy; review and report accurately, in which it must prove the grounds to ensure that the increased seafood belongs to the people in the period from April to August 2016. The Ministry of Finance will directly guide and inspect, if any problems arise, a working group will be set up to inspect the actual situation.

Regarding the proposal to allow the destruction and compensation of 100% of the value of the shipment of dried seafood products not used as food for humans, currently stored in coastal communes, wards and towns, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh assigned the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to be responsible for reviewing and reporting the quantity and expected costs incurred and the authenticity and compliance with regulations of these products.

Regarding the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Deputy Prime Minister assigned to continue guiding localities to collect samples for monitoring, supervising and announcing the results of assessing the quality of seawater environment in 4 provinces; and monitoring the environment for the activities of Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development continues to carry out monitoring sampling of aquatic products, water and sediment samples to serve the direction of production, exploitation, aquaculture and salt production.

In addition, continue to mobilize fisheries control forces to support and coordinate with 4 provinces to increase patrols, supervision and mobilize fishermen not to use bottom fishing in the sea area 20 nautical miles from Ha Tinh to Thua Thien-Hue./.

According to Vietnamplus