A large-scale salt-making facility in the south-central coastal
province of Ninh Thuan has left residents in the vicinity with almost no arable
land and crops dying of saline intrusion.

Workers mine salt in Ninh Thuan Province. A salt facility has left residents with almost no arable land to cultivate. (Photo: VNS)

The
2,500ha Quan The salt-making industrial park, the largest of its kind in the
country, was put into operation two years ago in Thuan Nam District with a
designed capacity of 300,000 tonnes of industrial salt a year.

But the
project, expected to revitalise the salt industry, has made vast swathes of land
around it non-arable, driving local people into extreme difficulties with no
land for cultivation.

Tran
Quyet, deputy chairman of Phuoc Minh Commune People’s Committee, said that the
project had aimed to create jobs and improve lives of local residents in
neighbouring areas.

But
thousands of people had left their homes to earn a living elsewhere since they
had no land to cultivate, he said, adding that every corner and garden in the
commune had suffered from salt water intrusion.

He said
since the salt making facility began operations, well water in the area had
become salty and unusable, and the land close to salt fields had become
unfertile. Trees in many gardens, for instance, stopped bearing fruit, Quyet
said.

The
saline intrusion had also led to a severe shortage of fresh water among
livestock farmers.

Statistics from Phuoc Minh show that 5 per cent of the commune residents were
poor in the 2004-07 period. This has risen to 15 per cent in 2010, and is
expected to reach 18-19 per cent this year.

A
preliminary survey by the provincial Department of Natural Resources and
Environment has found that saline content of well water in Phuoc Minh is 24 to
30 times beyond the permitted level, and that in lakes and paddy fields, 12.5 to
34 times.

Quyet
said provincial authorities were setting up a multisectoral team that would
thoroughly study livelihood, environment, land reclamation and resettlement
issues pertaining to the Quan The project.

An Van
Khanh, deputy director of the agricultural ministry’s Department of Processing
and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products and Salt Production, said urgent
action was needed to prevent environmental pollution and restructure the salt
industry.

He said
the ministry would finalise a draft decree on salt production and trade and
submit it to the Government for approval this October.

The
draft decree stipulates that industrial salt production covering more than 100ha
of land should be properly designed with a seawater supply system, drainage
channels, a protective dyke system for salt fields, warehouses and traffic
grids.

The
seawater supply and drainage network would have to prevent environmental
pollution including the intrusion of salt water in surrounding areas, and work
as a conduit to drain away floodwater during the rainy season, Khanh said.

The
draft decree also dealt with support policies for salt makers, such as tax
exemption and preferential loans, and the State would regulate supply and demand
as well as import and export activities to stabilise the salt market, he added.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News