The southern province of Dong Nai has announced it will close all enterprises that are found to be dangerously polluting the environment.

The announcement will put 78 enterprises, one-third of those operating in the province, on the brink of being shut down if they fail to improve their treatment and disposal of waste. This move makes the province the toughest in the country in terms of prosecuting dangerous polluters.

The Provincial Department for Resources and the Environment announced the “black list” held on March 17.

Among the names on the black list, several enterprises were discovered discharging liquid waste with toxic substances at levels thousands of times the national limit.

The Department Director, Le Viet Hung, said his agency has sent dispatches to black-listed enterprises, requesting that they submit measures and solutions before April 29, and calling on environmental agencies to provide consultation to the polluters to help them tackle the problem.

He also unveiled a plan to disburse 20 billion VND from the provincial fund for environmental protection towards helping solve the problem.

Polluters have been warned that if violations are not fixed within the year, they will face the full brunt of lawfully stipulated consequences.

Enterprises that do improve waste treatment systems and meet national standards will be removed from the blacklist, said the environmental watchdog./.