Industrial zones are killing many rivers in Hanoi and HCM City.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have to submit to the Prime Minister a comprehensive scheme for the treatment of medical waste and environmental pollution at pesticide warehouses and craft villages in August 2009.

Hanoi authorities are asked to check and make a list of facilities that seriously pollute the environment, including facilities that have to be urgently moved out of the city’s centre and residential areas. The city has to work out schemes for dealing with polluting facilities to serve the 1000^th Thang Long-Hanoi anniversary in 2010.

The government will meet in July to discuss measures for dealing with enterprises that cause serious pollution.

The government in 2003 approved a comprehensive plan to tackle seriously polluting facilties. This list comprises chemical, cooking processing, brewery, animal husbandry and slaughtering enterprises.

Hanoi has 25 facilities on the above list. Since 2004, the city has dealt with 17 of them.

At present, only eight provinces and cities have completely dealt with these kinds of facilities. Of the total 439 seriously polluting facilities in the country, only 87 have been recognised as having entirely rectified their violations.

Ngoc Le