Vietnam expedites eco-friendly industrial park initiative

 An initiative aimed at converting existing industrial parks into eco-friendly production facilities was introduced at a conference in Vietnam's southern Can Tho city on Wednesday.

The 4.5-million U.S. dollar eco-friendly industrial park project was approved in August last year using non-refundable aid from the Global Environment Facility, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

It will be carried out on a trial basis at Khanh Phu Industrial Park in the northern province of Ninh Binh, Hoa Khanh Industrial Park in the central city of Da Nang and Tra Noc 1 and Tra Noc 2 Industrial Parks in Can Tho.

Tran Duy Dong, director general of the Department for Economic Zones Management under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said that although industrial parks have made great contribution to the national economy and created jobs for over 2.4 million people, their operations are posing threat to the environment.

He said that 16 industrial parks operate without sewage treatment plants, while many others fail to pay adequate attention to the collection and treatment of their solid waste as well as to the control of greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the ministry, eco-friendly industrial parks are a new model in Vietnam, which will be built through the application of advanced technologies and clean production methods to minimize greenhouse gases, hazardous wastes and water pollutants.