Concrete measures to deal with the pollution caused by wastewaterdischarged from industrial parks in the Mekong Delta were underdiscussion at a recent international workshop in Can Tho city.
Theevent was co-organised by the Ministry of Science and Technology, theMinistry of Natural Resources and Environment and representatives fromthe German AKIZ project.
Participants were warned that the regionis facing a number of adverse environmental impacts caused byindustrial parks’ operations such as polluted air and water.
Thedelta is home to 120 industrial parks and aims to have 240 by 2020. Theyare reported to discharge an average of 47 million litres of wastewaterand 220,000 tonnes of solid waste every year.
According to the ministry, only 66 percent of the region’s industrial zones are built with waste treatment stations.
Headof the Southwest Environmental Protection Bureau Pham Dinh Don concededthe pollution in the industrial zones, saying that as the provinces andcities failed to follow the region’s master plan on socio-economicdevelopment, the environmental protection work has been ineffective.
Todeal with the problem, the participants suggested focusing on theindustrial parks’ development plans in line with the local sustainablesocio-economic development and environmental protection plans. Inaddition, more money should be poured into upgrading industrial parkinfrastructure to protect the environment.-VNA