A man repairs a fishing boat in Vinh Thanh commune of Phu Vang district, Thua Thien-Hue province (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Support for people affected by themarine environment incident in the central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh,Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue in early 2016 will be expanded under a recentdecision by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
Decision 2124/QD-TTg amends and supplements somecontents of the PM’s Decision 12/QD-TTg, issued on January 6, 2017, whichapproved the plan assessing damage to compensate, support, recover productionand ensure social welfare for affected residents in the four localities.
It stipulates that support for the targetedgroup to buy health insurance will last for a maximum of 24 months ascalculated from the date of insurance purchase, but not later than December 31,2019.
Earlier, the aid provision is stipulated to bein two years at maximum, from January 1, 2017 to December 2018.
Persons enrolling on vocational or juniorcollege courses will have all of their tuition fees covered by the State inacademic years from 2015-2016 to 2020-2021.
Meanwhile, affected people will also be assistedto seek jobs and work abroad. The maximum aid duration is 24 months withDecember 31, 2019 the latest date for aid.
The term of loans with preferential interestrates for production recovery and job change will be extended through December31, 2019, instead of December 31, 2017 as regulated in the previous decision.
The new decision also added regulations onprojects to build and upgrade fishery logistics service establishments in thefour provinces to help ensure long-term livelihoods for local fishermen.
The mass fish deaths were first reported in HaTinh province on April 6, 2016 when a large number of fish washed ashore. Theincident also occurred in Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue.
Wastewater discharged from Taiwan-invested HungNghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company polluted more than 200 kilometresof coastline, devastating the marine environment and local economies of theprovinces, which largely rely on fishing and tourism.
In late June 2016, Formosa admittedresponsibility for the environmental incident and pledged 11.5 trillion VND(500 million USD) in compensation for affected fishermen, households and organisations.-VNA