Quang Tri (VNA)🌳 – Efforts to stabilise lives, production andbusiness of people in central provinces affected by the Formosa-related marine environmental incident have paidoff and local residents have put more trust in the Party and authorities, andunited with each other to address the incident, said Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc.

Thegovernment leader made the remarks while chairing a national conference inQuang Tri province on May 17 to review the performance of the steeringcommittee for solutions to stabilise lives, production and business of affectedpeople after the incident. Officialshave gained more experiences following the incident, PM Phuc said while laudingHa Tinh province’s determination to bring the case on wrongdoings incompensating and supporting the affected fishermen to the court. The leaderattributed such outcomes to contributions of scientists, members of thesteering committee, leaders and the political system at commune-, district- andprovincial levels, army and police forces, and public support. Hehighlighted the publicity, transparency, democracy, accuracy and closesupervision in the work. However, PMPhuc said, there remain shortcomings in the compensation work, sparking publiccomplaints. Citing thefact that 0.9 percent of the compensation fund has yet been disbursed, thegovernment leader requested the early completion of support and compensationfor local fishermen. He describedenvironment as a pillar of national development and asked the Ministry ofNatural Resources and Environment to propose solutions to protect the country’senvironment in general and maritime environment in particular for a long term. The ministry was also urged to establish more environment monitoring systemsin major cities, industrial parks and environmentally polluted spots, firstlyin the four central provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hueprovinces, with thesupervision of the public. Besides, itis necessary to continue inspecting the operation of Formosa, especially afterthe test run of its second furnace, while ensuring security and social orderand safety in the central region, he said.

Mass fish deaths were firstreported on April 6, 2016 when a large number of fish were washed ashore in HaTinh province. The phenomenon also occurred in neighbouring Quang Binh, QuangTri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces.

About 70 tonnes of dead fishwere found in the four provinces. This environmental incident caused seriouslosses in the maritime ecosystem and seafood resources, affecting production,business and lives of around 510,000 people of 130,000 households in 730villages of 146 communes and towns of 22 coastal districts of the four provinces.

In late June 2016,Taiwan-invested Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Co. Ltd (FHS) admittedresponsibility for the environmental incident and pledged to compensate 500million USD (11.5 trillion VND) for affected people.

On August 23, 2016, thePrime Minister established a steering committee for solutions to stabilisingthe lives, production and business activities of affected residents.

In addition, the Governmentleader also decided to provide emergency assistance for affected locals, includingover 19,000 tonnes of rice and cash worth over 101 billion VND (4.45 millionUSD).

According to Minister ofAgriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, fisheries resources in thefour localities have been recovered, with their seafood field hitting nearly152,000 tonnes in 2017, up 23.5 percent year-on-year.

Consumers also feel securedin using seafood, resulting in increases in seafood prices.

Last year, the fourprovinces’ tourism sector bounced back as well, with rises seen in both the numberof tourists and revenue.

ꦅ To date, the Hung NghiepFormosa Ha Tinh Steel Co. Ltd has repaired 52 out of 53 faults, whileinstalling automatic monitoring devices and cameras and directly transmittingits data related to the environment to the provincial Ha Tinh Department ofNatural Resources and Environment and the Vietnam Environment Administration.-VNA