Sonadezi Long Thanh in Dong Nai province was caught red-handed in discharging untreated waste water in early August 2011. However, to date, it still has not compensated farmers’ loss.

The problem is that the provincial department for natural resources and the environment still has not completed the work of defining the damage level caused by the discharging to the local residents.

People keep waiting, local authorities also keep waiting

The farmers in Tam Anh commune of Long Thanh district, who sued Sonadezi for damages, complained that they have been waiting too long for the compensation. 

A local resident said that after petitioning to the commune’s farmers’ association, they were invited to the meetings, where they had to answer a lot of questions and got the promise from officials on the compensation. However, to date, they still have not got the compensation, though the case occurred seven months ago.

The farmers have been told that they still have to wait for the final decision about the damage level caused by Sonadezi Long Thanh.

Nguyen Van Trai, a farmer, thinks that local people have to wait so long for the compensation, because Sonadezi is a state owned enterprise, established by the Dong Nai provincial people’s committee.

Meanwhile, Huynh Ngoc Trai, Chair of the Farmers’ Association, Vo Van Luat, Secretary General of the Communist Party Committee and Chair of Tam An commune’s people’s committee, also do not have any further information about the compensation. The only thing they can do is to tell local farmers to keep waiting until the final conclusion about the damages is released. 

Trai said that many people got angry with the answer. However, he has no other choice than advising them to keep calm.

Nguyen Van Ngau, Chair of the Long Thanh district farmers’ association and Tran Van Quang, Deputy Chair of the Dong Nai provincial farmers’ association have both confirmed that to date no official result about the damage level. They said that only after getting the result, will the provincial authorities be able to take the next steps to force Sonadezi to make compensation.

How much more time will farmers have to wait?

After discovering the behavior of Sonadezi Long Thanh of discharging dirty water to the Ba Cheo canal, C49, an agency of the Ministry of Public Security, concluded that the enterprise broke the environment protection law, imposing the fine of 405 million dong for the violation and forcing the enterprise to settle the consequences immediately.

The Dong Nai provincial authorities assigned the provincial environment department to cooperate with the Natural Resources and Environment Institute under the HCM City National University, to make surveys on the polluted area and define the damage level caused by Sonadezi Long Thanh.

Vo Van Chanh, Deputy Director and the spokesman of the Dong Nai Department for Natural Resources and the Environment answered Dan Viet’s reporters through the phone on February 20, that the department was still implementing the survey. When the reporters asked about the reasons behind the delay, Chanh did not answer and hung up.

Also on February 20, Nguyen Van Tuan, General Director of Sonadezi Long Thanh, also said that the company itself also has to wait for the conclusion about the damages. “We will follow the decisions to be released by competent agencies,” he promised.

In fact, the behavior of discharging dirty water was only discovered in August 2011, but local households in the two communes of Tam Phuoc in Bien Hoa City and Tam An commune of Long Thanh district have suffered from the discharging since 2006. Meanwhile, they still do not know when they will get the compensation.

Source: Dan Viet/ VNN