Vietnam and the US jointly launched a project at Da Nang airport in
the central Da Nang city on August 9 to clean up Agent
Orange/dioxin in the area.
Addressing the launching
ceremony, Deputy Defence Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi
Vinh said together with Bien Hoa and Phu Cat airports, Da Nang airport
was used by the US military to store and load barrels of herbicides
containing Agent Orange/dioxin onto helicopters to spray over Vietnamese
forests and land during the war and became a “hotspot” of dioxin
contamination.
After years, the toxic chemicals have spread out and affected people’s health and the surrounding environment, he added.
Vinh said the project reflects the resolve of the Vietnamese and US
governments as well as the sense of responsibility of the Vietnamese
Defence Ministry, the US Embassy in Vietnam and the efforts of the
Air Defence and Air Force and the US Agency for International
Development (USAID).
US Ambassador to Vietnam David
Shear affirmed that the event is of great significance to the two
countries’s bilateral ties.
The project marked is a
joint plan between the Defence Ministry of Vietnam and the USAID to
clean up dioxin contaminated soil and sediment at the airport, left from
the Vietnam war, he said, adding that the experts will create a safe
and clean environment for residents of the area.
The
project that the two countries implement is “a sign of the hopeful
future we are building together,” said the Ambassador.
The
long-term objective of the project, costing a total 41 million USD, is
to raise Vietnam ’s capacity in treating dioxin and
hardly-disintegrated organic pollutants at the contaminated airport and
other sites.
Workers will dig up the
contaminated soil and sediment and place it in a stockpile, where it
will be treated using the latest thermal desorption technology and make
it safe by Vietnamese and US standards for people living and working in
the area.
The project will last until 2016.-VNA