VietNamNet Bridge – The National Assembly yesterday began a three-day question-and-answer session between deputies and ministers on the environment, agricultural exports and the economy.

Farmers tend a spring crop of vegetables in Tien An Commune in Quang Ninh province’s Yen Hung District.

The Finance Minister, Vu Van Ninh, was grilled about the implementation of petrol-price policies and the management of tax collections.

He was also asked why he had reduced the import tax on poultry and poultry products while the domestic industry was still struggling.

However, rice exports topped the agenda as deputies questioned the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat.

He was asked why the Government stopped exports when the average price of rice from the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta stood at between VND5,500 and VND6,000 per kg.

It was the first time that a new Question and Answer format had been applied in an attempt to tighten up responses. Previously any questions could be asked by deputies - and ministers could take their time to reply. This often led to them wandering away from the issues concerned.

Under the new system, the chairman of the assembly, Nguyen Phu Trong, selects the topics before the deputies ask the questions - and each of the seven ministers involved has a total of 110 minutes in which to answer all questions.

Yesterday, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Nguyen said Vedan, the monosodium glutamate (MSG) producer responsible for serious river pollution in HCM City, was carrying out its punishment step-by-step.

Specifically, Vedan had paid an administrative fine of VND267 million (US$16,687) for 12 violations of the environmental protection law, including discharging waste water at five to 10 times the permitted volumes, lax management of toxic wastes, and insufficient documentation.

Nguyen said that Vedan had also paid VND15 billion ($937,500) out of the VND127 billion ($7.93 million) of over-due environmental-protection fees which it had avoided for many years.

Nguyen said that Vedan, a Taiwanese company, would finish paying the fees by the end of next year. He said it had also accepted an order to clean up pollution remaining in the Thi Vai River in co-operation with other polluters.

He added that at present, three out of Vedan’s seven factories had closed down to improve their waste-treatment systems.

It is necessary to end the serious environmental pollution, but still maintain economic development and jobs for people,” said Nguyen.

Blame history

Commenting on serious pollution caused by 70 per cent of industrial zones operating without any waste water treatment systems, the minister said that in the first years of the renewal process, Viet Nam focused on developing the economy without paying attention to the environment.

“So, now it is understandable that 4,000 manufacturers and 1,450 craft villages have no waste treatment system.”

He said the ministry had drawn up plans for 65 per cent of manufacturers causing serious environmental pollution to fix their waste treatment systems by the end of next year. However, he said it would take until 2015 for all polluting manufacturers to comply.

The minister also said it was necessary to increase the number of employees in environmental protection agencies. He said that there were only five employees for every million people and wanted to raise this to 15 in every million by 2012.

The minister said there was a need to make tougher environmental protection laws. At present, he said the highest level for each violation was VND70 million ($4,375), which was not strict enough as law breakers would rather pay a fine than invest in expensive technology for treating waste.

Meanwhile, he said environmental agencies had to pay up to VND10 million ($625) for scientific tests on suspected toxic water or waste.

Nguyen said fines should be increased to VND500 million ($31,250) for each violation. He also raised shortcomings in existing regulations that stipulate that environmental inspectors must inform suspected polluters at least a week before an investigation.

He said this gave offenders such as Vedan enough time to change or hide evidence.

Mineral exploration

Replying to concerns about plans for massive exploitation of minerals and natural resources, the minister said specific itineraries had been drawn up by the Government and the ministry until the year 2030. These were aimed at saving resources for future generations.

Specifically, he said that the Prime Minister had issued decisions to guide what kind of mineral resources could be developed, how much and when.

He added that enterprises would only be licensed when they demonstrated their ability to explore for minerals. Then, they would have to define the specific amounts of minerals to be mined and how this would affect the environment.

Rice export queries

The halt of rice exports topped the agenda at the National Assembly yesterday as deputies questioned the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cao Duc Phat.

Deputy Nguyen Hong Dieu from southern Hau Giang Province said that the Government stopped exports at a time when the average price of rice from the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta stood at between VND5,500 and VND6,000 per kg. Following the restrictions on exports, prices fell to below VND4,000 per kg in June this year.

Dieu said exports were stopped as world prices were increasing. He asked Phat how the ministry was helping to overcome financial difficulties created for farmers.

Phat replied that when domestic rice prices accelerated, the Government had to issue policies to control to avoid too much impact for consumers.

Phat said that the world price in April this year was nearly four times higher than the average price in 2007.

The Government directed two cooking processing corporations to buy nearly 800,000 tonnes of rice to help farmers.

Deputy Le Thanh Liem from Long An Province said rice exports had been stopped for the wrong reasons and asked who would take responsibility for it.

Phat acknowledged his personal responsibility for making incorrect predictions about rice prices and said he was willing to be punished by the National Assembly.

Stormy issue

Deputy Nguyen Minh Thuyet from Lang Son Province said in recent years storms over Ha Noi had not caused any human casualties, but this year 22 people had died.

Minister Phat replied that there were still shortcomings in storm and flood control but localities had tried their best to minimise losses.

“The ministry has guided localities to prepare for re-cultivation right after the flood subsides,” Phat said. “We have provided different rice varieties of rice and have asked the Government to provide money to help them resume normal production.”

Deputy Nguyen Dinh Xuan from Tay Ninh Province asked Phat about the transference of some protected forest areas to rubber plantations.

He replied that according to the National Assembly, Viet Nam needed 6.5 million hectares of protected forest, but there were still 9.1 million hectares.

Phat admitted that the ministry had guided localities to transfer some natural forest areas for rubber production.

The minister reported that profits made in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors this year were about 3.57 per cent higher than last year, hitting the NA target of between 3.5 and 4 per cent.

Rice production was estimated to reach 38.5 million tonnes, an increase of 2.6 million tonnes compared with 2007.

In the first 10 months of this year, rice exports were estimated to earn $13.7 billion, 26 per cent higher than the same period last year.

Finance chief grilled

The Finance Minister, Vu Van Ninh, was the third minister grilled during question time in the National Assembly yesterday.

Deputies asked 27 questions focusing on the implementation of price policies and me management of tax policies.

Ninh was asked why his ministry had applied what they called “an up and down” tax police on petrol in recent months. They also asked why he had reduced the import tax on poultry and poultry products while domestic industry was still struggling.

Deputies also queried Ninh about ways of creating monetary security the way taxes for the national budget were collected - and for better wage policies.

Deputy Nguyen Thi Bach Mai from Tay Ninh Province asked Ninh to explain why, if inflation was slowing down, prices of food and other items remained high. They said this increased the negative impacts on low-income earners.

Minister Ninh said while most input costs had fallen, some, including petrol, could not drop immediately. As global oil prices went down, domestic petrol distributors needed time to generate profit of their existing supplies.

Ninh said domestic businesses had strictly carried out the Government’s instructions and measures in the fight against the inflation. The Government had required petrol distributors to increase their reserves from 20 to 30 days, but they had to ensure benefits for both consumers and distributors.

Ninh said all measures to minimise inflation in the first quarter of the year were extremely positive.

Dang Thuan Phong of Ben Tre Province attributed inflation to poor budget administration.

However, Ninh replied that any overspending was generated by large demands from construction and infrastructure development.

He said that to solve the problems, the Government needed to accumulate capital for the State coffers, cut export tariffs - and help businesses to lift production.

Ninh said the Government kept overspending at 5 per cent, which was quite reasonable.

Some deputies asked Ninh what measures the ministry would adopt to manage State investment capital in State-run corporations and economic groups.

He replied that business performance of the State-run corporations and economic groups had been “relatively effective” and that only several companies had incurred losses.

Ninh said the ministry had asked the Government to revise Decree 199 to intensify supervision on State-run companies and re-adjust capital-management policies for economic groups and corporations to improve their business performance.

Commenting on the input costs for agriculture, Ninh attributed the strong increase in materials prices to higher costs for oil and fertilisers. Natural calamities and epidemics had also helped push up prices.

(Source: Viet Nam News)