At the discussion under the on-going 8th session of the 12th National Assembly, Deputy Nguyen Dinh Xuan from TayNinhProvince, said that a mineral management strategy must prioritise mineral supply for domestic production first, instead of exports.
“Vietnam will be short of coal to meet the domestic demand in several years but the country has continued exporting this mineral. This is completely unreasonable,” he added.
Xuan highlighted that many oil-rich countries have now halted or limited exports of this mineral, also noting China's reduction of rare-earth exports to Japan and Europe.
He called on the government to set stricter rules on mineral management through putting heavier responsibilities on local authorities.
Sharing the same opinion with Xuan, Deputy Nguyen Danh, from Gia Lai Province, said that some natural resources, including coal and crude oil have been nearly exhausted, therefore, more active measures should be applied to mitigate the national natural resource waste.
Danh suggested that it is important to decide which kind of minerals should be halted, stopped and continued. This needs updated exhaustion indexes of natural resources in the country and in the world.
Deputy Do Manh Hung, from Thai Nguyen Province, felt that more responsibilities of individuals, organisations and state management agencies in dealing with environmental issues should be added into the Mineral Law, aiming to enhance efficiency of mineral exploitation, use and management.
Can Cuong
(MONRE, 28/10/2010)