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At the same meeting, the Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Manh Hien, spoke against reducing the nation's rice fields from 3.8 million to 3.6 million hectares to handle the rapidly growing population and rising sea levels.
Hien said this was necessary because of the high rates of industrialisation and urbanisation.
Three steps were outlined to stop pollution in IZs and craft villages. These were to strengthen the management of central and local authorities, increase State investment, and enforce punishment for those who broke environmental laws.
The discussions on pollution followed a report by the supervising board of the Standing Committee. It was presented by the chairman of the Committee for Science, Technology and Environment, Phan Xuan Dung.
Dung said the committee had conducted field trips to 15 coastal economic zones and 54 traditional craft villages and had found they had contributed remarkably to socio-economic development by creating jobs, increasing people's incomes - and the State budget.
However, he said members agreed that this development was posing a threat to the environment.
Dung said most localities focused on investment, but were reckless about environmental protection. Despite the large number of economic zones and craft villages, most lacked staff who specialised in protecting the environment and the laws governing this area.
Slack co-operation among State agencies had also contributed to the inefficient management and the State itself was only setting one per cent of budget spending aside for environmental protection, which was not enough.
Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee, Phung Quoc Hien, said that due to unclear and overlapping regulations on the powers of each authority, they often "passed the buck" to each other.
Hien said budget collections from environmental-protection fees were often insufficient to repair the pollution and damage created by those breaking the law.
Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Nghiem Vu Khai, said production in craft villages was on a small-scale and involved many risks, such as unstable sources of materials and training workers.
The income of village craftsmen was low, therefore they did not have sufficient capital to invest in technology or to spend on protecting the environment, Khai said.
Chairman of the Committee for External Affairs Tran Van Hang said budget spending on environmental protection should be increased as the treatment of industrial waste was often costly.
He said many companies were prepared to pay fines rather than invest in waste-treatment technology as fine levels were low.
Hang suggested strict punishment should be enforced, including shutting down factories when they violated the law.
Deputies agreed that environmental protection measures at the zones and villages should be regularly inspected by NA agencies, the Government and local authorities.
They also agreed it was necessary to call for private investment in environmental protection.
Chairman of the Law Committee, Phan Trung Ly, asked the supervising board to make a deeper analysis on implementing policies and laws on environmental protection before the report was submitted to the NA.
Rising sea levels
Later yesterday, NASC deputies discussed draft plans for land usage over the next five to 10 years.
Deputy Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, Nguyen Manh Hien, said it was planned to keep the nation's rice fields at 3.8 million hectares until 2020, though some localities suggested it be reduced to 3.6 million hectares.
Hien said the 3.8 million figure was better as the population was predicted to reach 100 million people by 2020, pushing the annual demand for rice to 47 million tonnes.
He added that Viet Nam was expected to lose 6,000 hectares of rice fields by that time due to a 12cm rise in sea levels.
Chairman of the Economics Committee, Nguyen Van Giau, said the committee agreed with the Government proposal.
However, Giau said that to hold onto 3.8 million hectares of rice field required a great effort from the whole of society.
NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung was worried that the target was hard to achieve because of the fast rate of urbanisation and industrialisation.
Giau said it was necessary to take the protection of rice land seriously by heavily punishing those who violated land-use rules.
He said it was necessary to encourage farmers to become more committed to agricultural production.
And, he added, as the area for rice planting could be reduced, the quality of agricultural production must be improved by applying technology.
Meanwhile, the Economics Committee said it did not agree with the Government plan that the land area for industrial zones be increased from 72,000ha to 150,000ha.
Deputy Minister Hien said the increase aimed to ensure enough land fund for industrialisation and to avoid paying "too much" compensation when industrial zones were built.
However, the Economics Committee asked the Government to reconsider the increase.
Giau said that only 177 of the 267 existing industrial zones were actually in operation.
VNS
(MONRE)