A plant operated by foreign-invested MSG-maker Vedan Vietnam was fined VND10 million (US$600) for discharging wastewater into the Thi Vai River in the southern province of Dong Nai, according to environmental regulators.

One of pipe systems hidden deep in the water avoid environmental police detection (Photo:SGGP)

Vedan is owned by Taiwanese investors and has about 3,200 workers in Viet Nam. The river is heavily polluted because companies and industrial parks along the river have discharged untreated wastewater over the past 10 years.

Unsatisfied with the answers provided by representatives of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and by Mr. Hoang Van Thong, head of Dong Nai’s Environmental Protection Department, reporters on Tuesday sought Mr. Le Viet Hung, the director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, to find out why role local authorities let the discharge happen right under their noses and why the company was presented a certificate of merit for protecting the environment in 2004.

According to Mr. Thong, his department had proposed the award to the provincial government because the Vedan made an effort to protect the environment and offered residents compensation, used a gas waste system instead of oil, and spent VND20-30 billion (US$1.2 million) to improve the environment.

Moving the plant to another province is one way to protect the environment, according to Mr. Thong. The company has plants in the central province of Binh Thuan and in the southern province of Binh Phuoc, both of which have generated complaints as well.

The plant uses 28,000 cubic meters of water a day, although it is authorize to discharge only 5,000 cubic meters. Investigators found two pipe systems hidden deep in the water to allow wastewater to be discharged without detection. They added that the facilities fail to meet required standards.

But Mr. Hung rejected the accusation that his department had covered up the wrongdoings of Vedan. He explained that Vedan began investing in Dong Nai in 1991, before the province had an environmental protection department.

Local authorities have fined Vedan four times, for a total VND23 million (US$1,400), for environment violations, said Mr. Hung. These fines are too small to repair what the company has done to the environment.

Two months ago, Khanh Hoa suggested that Hyundai Vinashin, a joint-venture between South Korea’s Hyundai Group and the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, be fined for its repeated violations, but had to settle for the VND10 million (US$600) as stipulated by the law.