Hanoi (VNA)൲ - Projects which fail to meet waste treatmentrequirements would be rejected, and completed projects would only be put intooperation when their treatment of waste water treatment met environmental standards,Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has stressed.

ForTaiwanese steel firm Formosa, for instance, the Ministry of Natural Resourcesand Environment (MoNRE) must strictly control the firm’s production technologyand environmental protection technology to ensure it meets conditions foroperation. He madethe statement at a recent conference to review last year’s performance of theEnvironment and Natural Resources Ministry as well as to introduce its workingplan for this year. MoNRE MinisterTran Hong Ha said last year marked a milestone in improving the legal frameworkwith new laws like the Law of Measurement and Mapping, and the issuance of 14draft decrees and 49 circulars. Theministry managed to coordinate with the Ministry of Justice to amend regulationson investment and business in order to remove barriers for enterprises. Thescenarios for Vietnam in the face of climate change were completed to help allsectors complete their development plans. It submitted its land use planby 2020 to the National Assembly. Waterresources, land, and minerals were under increasingly strict management. Lastyear, revenue from natural minerals was over 5.5 trillion VND (244 million USD)and from land was 68 trillion VND (3 billion VND), accounting for 8.07 percentof the State budget’s revenue. The reformof administrative procedures was innovated. Procedures for granting landuse certificates and registration of land change were shortened to between 2-20days. Last yearsaw strong punishments across the country with 6,400 major polluters facingsanctions. As much as 60.8 billion VND (2.69 million USD) was collected infines, and 5,348 hectares of land was revoked. Speakingat the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Dung said in terms ofadministration reform, people still found it difficult to get land usecertificates, undergo procedures for environmental impact assessment andreceive site clearance compensation. On thetasks for the coming year, he said it was priority to complete mechanisms andpolicies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of State management onnatural resources and the environment. In particular,he asked the ministry to supplement the Law on Land to promote the process ofindustrialisation and modernisation of agriculture and rural areas. He alsorequired the strengthening of evaluation and environmental impact assessmentsfor construction projects. In thenear future, Dung said it was necessary to supervise and classify pollutionsources into rivers, sea, and the air at large businesses and thoroughlyhandle violators.-VNA