A makeshift tent was set up o to prevent garbage trucks entering Nam Son dumping ground in Hanoi's Soc Son district. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Big heaps of waste that have appeared beside roads in Hanoi’sinner city districts for the last three days are expected to be cleared up byFriday, as people living around the Nam Son landfill agreed to stop blockingthe way to the city’s biggest dump.
Ata meeting with voters in Hoan Kiem district on July 17 morning, Chairman of themunicipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said that the waste would bemoved out of the inner districts by July 17.
Wastewould be temporarily taken to the Cau Dien and Xuan Son dumping sites.
OnJuly 13 night, people in two communes of Nam Son and Hong Ky in Hanoi’ Soc Sondistrict set up makeshift tents, blocking the way to the Nam Son WasteTreatment Complex or Nam Son dumping ground.
Thisis the sixth time such protests have happened, meaning waste has not beencollected and transferred from residential areas. Voters in the city raisedconcerns about the waste collection and treatment, asking for a long-termsolution.
Accordingto the official, waste treatment was among the city’s pending issues and Hanoicalled for local and international investors in waste treatment projects.
Atthe Nam Son Waste Treatment Complex, a hazardous waste treating factory wasopened in 2017, burning about 75 tonnes of waste daily to generate energy.
Threeinvestors registered waste-to-energy factory projects but the projects’ pacewas slow due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By the end of this year, one of thethree factories would start operation, dealing with about 4,000 tonnes per day,Chung said.
Nextyear, another waste-to-energy factory would be operational, dealing with 1,500tonnes daily, Chung said.
“Atthat time, most of the city’s waste would be burned to generate electricity,”he said.
Regardingthe Nam Son protest, Chung said that for the last three days, local authoritiesmet with and called on people to stop the protest.
Chungsaid city authorities had decided the housing price and relocation sites forpeople who lived around the landfill and suffered from environmental pollution.
Thecity arranged enough funding for land clearance and compensation for affectedhouseholds.
However,Chung said, the biggest problem now was to identify the origin of the land thatthey were using.
Agriculturaland housing land would have different rates of compensation.
Alsoon Friday morning, other city leaders met with people living around Nam Sonlandfill.
ViceSecretary of the municipal Party Committee Dao Duc Toan said that the city’sleaders understood the hardship and difficulties faced by people living aroundlandfills, particularly those living around Nam Son landfill in threecommunes of Nam Son, Bac Son and Hong Ky in Soc Son district.
Hesaid that the city leaders wanted to listen to people’s difficulties, concernsand opinions so they could solve problems.
Atthe meeting, affected people said that they did not agree with the compensationoptions.
Thecompensation they were offered for their farming and residential land was lessthan the housing prices at relocation sites.
ViceChairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Quoc Hung said that undercurrent regulations, each household could use a maximum of 400 sq.m of housing,so if households had area in excess of the maximum allowed, the agencies thatgranted the households such land-use right certificates would takeresponsibility.
"Ifhouseholds co-operate with local authorities to adjust the land area, theywould receive compensation for 400 sq.m of housing land. Their remaining landarea would be classified as farming land, but the city would give them an extraVNĐ500,000 per sq.m," Hung said, adding that the city's support made thecompensation for farming land higher than the current offer.
Earlier,among measures to address environmental pollution at the landfill andsurrounding residential areas, the Hanoi People’s Committee decided to move allpeople out of the area within a radius of 500m around the landfill and to growtrees as a green corridor. The activities were planned to be implemented thisyear and next year.
SinceJuly 2, 2019, the Soc Son District People’s Committee has assisted affectedhouseholds to move and paid them compensation.
Accordingly,1,100 households in the three communes would move out of the total area ofabout 396ha around the landfill. Compensation is estimated to cost about 3.4trillion VND (146.7 million USD).
Accordingto Vice Chairman of the Hong Ky Commune People's Committee Nguyen Cong Hung,after the meeting with city officials, people removed tents and let garbagetrucks enter or leave the landfill./.
VNA
