Yang Kun Hsiang, general director of Vedan Vietnam

Taiwanese-invested monosodium-glutamate maker Vedan on Friday rejected the latest compensation request of VND569 billion (US$31.8 million) from farmers affected by its pollution of the environment.

Farmers in Dong Nai, where the MSG maker factory is located, had asked for more than VND120 billion, while those in HCMC and Ba Ria-Vung Tau put in requests of VND135.5 billion and VND296 billion respectively.

The associations said the damage reported by local farmers through 11,000 petitions was nearly VND1.23 trillion but they have agreed to demand VND569 billion first.

If Vedan fails to pay that, they would sue the company, the associations said.

During the meeting, the HCMC Farmers’ Association said Vedan’s release of untreated effluents had caused damages of VND567 billion to farmers in Can Gio District while those in Ba Ria-Vung Tau said they had lost more than VND2 trillion. Dong Nai farmers have not completed their estimation.

Yang said the figures were far higher than what Vedan has assessed by itself. He said the company will wait further for conclusions from the Institute for Environment and Resources (IER) under the Vietnam National University-HCMC.

Friday’s meeting was the first between representatives of farmers affected by the Vedan wastewater discharge and the company.

The HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Development is also examining the pollution caused by Vedan effluents to the Thi Vai River, which has killed fish and damaged crops of farmers along the river in the three localities.

The department expects to finish its assessment in November and use the findings as evidence in the lawsuit against Vedan.

Investigations last September found Vedan had illegally dumped up to 105.6 million liters of untreated wastewater per month for the previous 14 years, killing farmers’ fish and shrimp ponds and ruining farmland along the banks of the river.

Source: Thanh Nien, VNA