Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of Natural Resources andEnvironment Tran Hong Ha continued to answer questions raised by NationalAssembly (NA) deputies on June 5 morning, focusing on waste treatment and managementof land in delayed projects.

Regarding his ministry’s role in waste treatmentmanagement, he said the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE)is responsible for giving advice to serve the issuance of strategies and plans,building technical standards, and conducting inspection and examination. Whilethe Ministry of Construction has the responsibility of managing infrastructureand approving the design of waste treatment factories, the Ministry of Scienceand Technology is in charge of treatment technology.

The MoNRE alone is unable to manage the wholewaste treatment issue, but it needs coordination, and some problems must beassigned to local authorities to deal with, he said.

Meanwhile, many modern waste treatmenttechnologies imported from other countries have failed to meet relevantrequirements in Vietnam. Some Vietnamese technologies are being piloted, andnone of them have satisfied operation, technical and environmental standards.

This problem has been reported to the PrimeMinister, and the three ministries will work closely together to have suitabletechnologies as soon as possible, he noted.

He admitted the fact that many waste treatmentplants were invested with big funding but failed to be operated, leading towastefulness of social resources.

At the question & answer session, part ofthe ongoing fifth session of the 14th-tenure parliament, deputy Duong Minh Anhof Hanoi pointed out to the prolonged delay or poor implementation of manyprojects on the land seized from local residents, which has become a publicconcern. Additionally, the land of some projects has been encroached, making ithard for local authorities in managing land and settling prolonged disputes.

Minister Ha said delayed projects had appearedbefore the 2013 Land Law took effect, attributing the problem to investors’poor capacity and a lack of penalties for violations. Although the law clearlystipulated penalties and mechanisms to bind investors, delayed projects haven’tbeen addressed thoroughly because of overlapping legal regulations.

According to the 2013 Land Law, projects thatare 24 months behind schedule will be revoked. However, the Law on Investmentregulates projects will be cancelled if they are 12 months behind schedule.

It is necessary to solve this gap between thetwo laws, he added.

On the other hand, the Land Law allows projectsto be revoked but doesn’t request investors to make compensation, which is alsoa problem. In fact, the land of many projects was mortgaged to seek bank loans,so there will be problems when revoking these suspended projects.

Relevant regulations should be amended so thatbanks could auction the mortgaged land to recover assets for the State, Hasaid.-VNA