Nguyen Nguyen Quan from the Hanoi People’s Council said the implementation of the relocation plans has been going very slowly.
The people’s committees of Thanh Xuan and Hai Ba Trung districts created the lists of factories that need urgent relocation.
Locals continue to complain about the existence of a weaving factory Doximex. For many years, it has been poisoning residential quarters with smoke and cotton dust.
Though the company built a new factory in a neighboring province, it still maintains a part of the production line at No 524 Minh Khai street.
Though Doximex has been added to the list of the production units that must relocate soon, there is still no enforcement to compel the factory to leave.
Lam Anh Tuan, deputy chair of Hai Ba Trung district, confirmed that there are still some polluting production units in the locality, though local authorities many times have requested production units to relocate to the suburbs.
“This depends on the city’s policies,” Tuan explained.
A local man commented that no company wants to relocate its factories because the factories are located on land plots in advantageous positions in the central districts of the capital city, which people call ‘golden land’.
“You should not expect to see factories relocating on voluntary basis. They won’t move until there is strong enforcement,” he said.
The man said that municipal authorities need to instruct departments and agencies to build up a legal framework stipulating that polluting factories must relocate to new land areas allocated to them once they receive support for relocation.
“The factories like Doximex must be coerced into relocation,” he said.
While waiting for further decisions to be released by authorities, Hai Ba Trung district has sent inspectors to the factories to request them to strictly follow regulations on environmental protection.
However, it is difficult to impose punishment on factories if they violate regulations, or force them to shut down, because decisions must be approved by many agencies.
According to Mai Trong Thai from the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, the land allocation and plans to ensure normal operation of the factories after relocation will determine the relocation process.
The city has decided that relocation must be completed by 2020.
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