Worsening the investment environment, affecting farmers

Public disclosure of EIA and public consultation

Dr. Vu Ngoc Long, former Director of the Southern Institute of Ecology, commented: The crematorium is a project that has both environmental and spiritual cultural factors. From an environmental perspective, the first and most important requirement is to have an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report. This report must be public, transparent and receive feedback from the community and scientists in handling environmental issues, especially wastewater and emissions. Normally and basically, such projects will have a "green corridor/wall" to isolate them from the surrounding environment. Details on this are specifically regulated and local authorities as well as investors can provide them to the local community and businesses to reassure them.

"However, if it is true as reflected by enterprises with factories, the location of the crematorium project is only 100 - 200m from the food factory, then there is no "wall" (including trees) that is environmentally safe enough. And from the perspective of consumers, it feels very offensive. The issue to note is that localities should avoid the case of projects starting construction before the EIA and then adding in a way to legalize or ignore some "sensitive" issues. Therefore, local authorities and investors of crematorium projects need to publicize the EIA to prove that it does not affect the production and business activities of other enterprises," said Dr. Long.

According to Mr. Long, in addition to environmental and economic factors, this project is also related to cultural and spiritual issues of the community. Therefore, it is necessary to consult the local community as well as the participation of experts in the field of social sciences to be able to measure all its impacts.

Gia Lai is a locality with a large land fund and a low level of urbanization, so it is necessary to have a long-term development mindset to plan appropriately for different socio-economic components, ensuring the principles of sustainable development as well as avoiding conflicts of interest between parties.

Làm xấu môi trường đầu tư, ảnh hưởng đến người nông dân - Ảnh 1. — The location of the crematorium (6 crematoriums) will likely affect the locality's investment attraction in the coming time.

Risk of not attracting new projects, farmers suffer losses

Mr. Luu Quoc Thanh, General Director of Quicornac Co., Ltd., representing businesses in the expanded Tra Da Industrial Park, said: If the crematorium project continues, it will put businesses in a "dilemma". "If we want to leave, we have no funds, and if we stay, our production and business activities will be greatly affected. Would you buy a product if you knew it was located next to a crematorium? More specifically, we here are food processing businesses exporting to high-end and notoriously difficult markets such as Europe, Japan, America...", Mr. Thanh said.

According to Mr. Thanh, in the past time, it has been operating and contributing positively to the local budget revenue. "Current businesses like us will have a hard time maintaining normal operations... next to the crematorium. We can also be sure that in the near future, this industrial park will not be able to attract any new investment projects. The location where people want to place the crematorium is damaging the local investment environment in terms of both the natural environment and investment attraction policies," Mr. Thanh affirmed.

Most businesses also affirm that today, in addition to demanding high quality and safe products, consumers around the world must also meet standards of environmental sustainability, green ecological labels, etc. Businesses have spent a lot of money to move towards these new standards. If the locality allows crematoriums to be located next to production sites, it will not only cause damage to the business community but will also have a widespread impact on local farmers. This is a comprehensive economic, social and cultural issue that local leaders need to consider carefully.

Source link