The first phase of a project to treat dioxin contamination in Da Nang Airport will commence in April, the project management authorities have revealed.

In the first phase, the project will incinerate 45,000 cubic metres of contaminated soil and sediment. To prepare for the work, an In-Pile Thermal Desorption (IPTD) system has been installed, along with 1,254 heat transfer machines and other remediation structures.

The excavation of soil for treatment in the second phase will also be conducted in this year.

According to the Air Defence-Air Force Service under the Ministry of Defence, the project is on the right track and expected to complete by 2016.

Joakim Parker, Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) – the project’s sponsor, attributed the progress to the effective cooperation between the agency and the Vietnamese side, especially the Air Defence-Air Force Service and the local government in Da Nang .

The central city of Da Nang is one of Vietnam’s three hotpots of dioxin pollution, with nearly 73,000 cubic metres of contaminated soil.

Approved by the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Defence in 2011, the project aims to clean up the whole area polluted by dioxin and prevent it from spreading to the environment and water sources.-VNA