Around 250,000 cu.m of soil in Bien Hoa City, the southern provinceof Dong Nai, are contaminated with dioxin at levels ranging from 1,000ppt to as high as more than 1 million ppt, it was reported at a workshopin Dong Nai on October 21.

The director of the nationalproject on overcoming consequences of toxic chemicals used by the USarmy during the war in Vietnam, Le Ke Son said at least 250 millionUSD and five years will be needed to treat all the contaminated soil.

According to Son, this is the conclusion of a survey conductedby the National Steering Committee for overcoming consequences of AgentOrange/dioxin (or Committee 33 in short) in coordination with relevantministries and agencies. The survey examined dioxin contamination atBien Hoa Airport, a major military airbase of the US army during thewar, and surrounding areas.

UNDP Deputy Country DirectorBakhodir Burkhanov said since 2009, the UNDP has assisted the Vietnamesegovernment in dealing with dioxin contamination at hotspots in thecountry.

Over the past five years, with funding from theGlobal Environment Facility (GEF), UNDP and the Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment (MONRE) have mapped dioxin contamination atBien Hoa Airbase to give a better understanding of its scope, level andthe unique features of the contamination. Through this project, interimmeasuring facilities have been set up to prevent dioxin from beingreleased to outside the airbase.

The UNDP official affirmedthat dioxin contamination is the cause of many health problems, and itis important that local residents are aware of the risks that dioxinposes to their health and livelihood.

A representative fromthe Defence Ministry reported that the ministry has completed thecontainment of nearly 100,000 cubic meters of dioxin contaminated soilon 4.3 ha of land in the airport at the cost of around 73 billion VND.The containment method was also used in dealing with 7,500 cubic metresof dioxin contaminated soil in Phu Cat Airport in the central provinceof Binh Dinh.

Son said Committee 33 will continue researchingto select an effective and suitable dioxin remediation technology forBien Hoa Airport.

The workshop in Dong Nai was jointlyorganised by the Office of Committee 33 and the UN Development Programme(UNDP). It brought together representatives from relevant Governmentagencies, international organisa tions, national non-governmentorgnizations and scientists, experts working in this area of work.-VNA