Hanoi (VNA)- The Government is developing guidelines enabling People’s Committees ofdistricts and provinces to sue polluters, Pham Van Loi, head of theEnvironmental Study Institute under the Vietnam Environment Administration,said at a recent conference on sustainable development.

A Government decree onassessment of environmental damage that took effect in March 2015 provides forsuing polluting enterprises if they fail to agree on compensation with localauthorities, including People’s Committees and the ministry of environment.

But Loi said complianceof Vietnamese firms with obligations relating to environmental protection, suchas issuing environmental impact assessments, environmental protection plans,waste management and pollution reduction measures was still modest.

“Stricter punishment ofpolluters will deter them,” Loi said.

Deputy head of the VietnamEnvironmental Admistration (VEA), Hoang Van Thuc, said there are 283 industrialzones in Vietnam but just 75 percent have waste water treatment systems andjust 60 percent of the systems meet national standards. Only five percent oftrade villages and industrial groups across the country have waste watertreatment systems.

VEA data shows that halfthe enterprises inspected failed to complete legal documents relating to environmentalprotection. Thirty percent of enterprises discharged improperly treated wastewater into the environment.

Deputy Minister ofNatural Resources and Environment, Vo Tuan Nhan, said that besides theirobligations, enterprises were offered incentives in taxes, land use andinfrastructure for complying with environmental protection laws.

However, enterprises complain that they facedifficulties in accessing such incentives, Nhan said, adding that he himselfsaw enterprises struggle to access the Environmental Protection Fund when hewas in charge of the fund management. — VNA