Many enterprises in HCM City have become debtors of the Municipal Environmental Protection Sub-department, not paying charges fixed by the city, a report says.

“Current environmental protection charges are very low, accounting for a small part of the total costs the city has to pay for processing wastewater and improving the environment.” (Photo: VNS)

According to the sub-department, as of this month, more than 30 enterprises had not paid environment protection charges of about VND3 billion (US$154,000) for wastewater treatment alone.

Tran Ngoc Dinh, an official of the sub-department, said environmental protection charges had been collected since 2004 under Prime Minister’s Decree 67.

However many enterprises in the city were still trying to avoid their obligations, he said.

Some of the enterprises had evaded payments for several years, Dinh said.

The Phan Muoi Company in Hoc Mon District, for instance, owes environmental protection fees of VND51 million (US$2,600), but to date, it has paid nothing, he said.

The Hau Sanh Company in Tan Binh District owed the department VND55 million ($2,800), and while the Binh Trung Dong Company in District 2 owed VND57 million ($2,900).

“We have many times sent warning letters to the enterprises. We have also discussed this issue several times with them. However, the situation has not changed,” Dinh said.

While some of the establishments had closed, many were still in operation.

Nguyen Minh Hoang, deputy director of the municipal Environmental Protection Sub-department, attributed the evasion to a lack of serious punitive measures.

The sub-department was tasked to collect environmental protection charges from local enterprises but it did not have the authority to penalise violations, Hoang said.

Current environmental protection charges are very low, accounting for a small part of the total costs the city has to pay for processing wastewater and improving the environment, he said.

Enterprises in the city have to pay just VND250 for one kilo of contaminated water that exceeds chemical-oxygen-demand (COD) and Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) specifications, he said.

The report shows that many enterprises that have not paid their environmental protection dues continue to discharge polluted water into the environment, but have not been penalised.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News