The case has grabbed the headlines and taken State agencies a lot of time to deal with, affecting Vedan’s production and its brand. Meanwhile, farmers have been looking forward to settling the case in an environmentally-responsible manner.

People wonder why a business has been able to release untreated waste without being discovered for dozens of years, and when the case was brought to light, the question of compensation has been raised amid a lot of publicity.

The fact is that many businesses pay more attention to maximising their profits rather than protecting the environment, as it is expensive to purchase and operate a wastewater treatment production line. If discovered, fines are just a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of treating waste. Although fines were raised from VND70 million to VND500 million, dozens of cases similar to Vedan have been uncovered.

In the first half of 2010, the Environmental Police under the Ministry of Public Security uncovered 3,600 violations and handed out fines totalling VND30 billion, 2.7times higher than the previous year. Notably, more than 90 percent of the cases involved discharged wastewater and gas emissions.

Binh Duong province alone had 76 environmental polluters, with 23 discharging wastewater into the Ba Bo canal. Other provinces have also detected scores of businesses releasing untreated water into the Nhue, Day, Cau and Tra Khuc rivers. 

Violations of the environment law are increasing at an alarming rate and effective remedies have not been introduced to solve the problem. To date, no businesses have been prosecuted for causing environmental pollution under the Criminal Code. Many businesses have been found to cause environmental pollution, but very few of them have been banned, shut down or forced to relocate their factories to other sites.  

The situation has been blamed on negligence by local administrations for fear of shrinking foreign investment, job cuts and lower profits. Therefore, many businesses have ignored warnings and have secretly discharged waste into the environment.

Bui Cach Tuyen, head of the Vietnam Environmental Administration, says that regulations on environmental protection are not yet complete to make it possible for local inspectors to stave off the hands of polluters in time.

The lessons learnt from Vedan’s case remain pertinent. The crux of the matter is that all relevant agencies and localities should join hands to nip in the bud any similar cases of environmental pollution in the future.   

Not long ago Da Nang City refused to license a US$2.5 billion project to build a steel mill and a paper mill, as project developers failed to meet the environmental requirements. In other localities, not a few projects have been suspended or relocated due to a high risk of environmental pollution. This is a necessary step to keep the environment healthy.