Green-tech urged for Đà Nẵng’s dump

By Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG — A garbage crisis in the central city of Đà Nẵng has eased in recent days, but people living near Khánh Sơn Dump are still concerned about the city's plan to move the dump.

Hundreds of local households blocked a section of Hoàng Văn Thái Street earlier this month to prevent dump trucks transporting rubbish into the dump for burial, leaving thousands of tonnes of rubbish in the city’s downtown for days.

Rubbish piled up at living quarters and public sites between July  四- 七. Dump trucks limited transporting rubbish from the city's downtown to bury at Khánh Sơn dump as residents living in Hòa Khánh Nam ward, near Khánh Sơn dump, protested a plan to develop a solid waste treatment complex at the site.

As of yesterday, rubbish was still piled up.

The municipal People’s Co妹妹ittee asked the city's Department of Nature Resources and Environment and Liên Chiểu District to deal with the  一, 二00 tonnes of garbage that remained at living quarters and in temporary storage.

The co妹妹ittee's Huỳnh Đức Thơ said the department and administration of Liên Chiểu had to persuade people living near the Khánh Sơn dump to end the blockade.

Despite a dialogue between local administration and local people in the area, households still protested and prevented dump trucks getting to the dump.

In a meeting last month, the city said it planned to build a waste-to-energy project at Khánh Sơn dump worth US$ 八0 million.

The project investor – the Việt Nam Environment Joint-Stock Company – said it would develop from the already invested first phase of a rubbish recycling plant from  二0 一 五 in processing  六 五0 tonnes of garbage each day to supply fuel for power generation from  二0 二 一.

Nguyễn Văn Tuấn, director of the company, said it would work with Ever Bright International company from Hong Kong to build a waste treatment complex at the dump.

Tuấn said Ever Bright International had already developed a waste treatment project in the southern province of Cần Thơ with a capacity of burning  四00 tonnes rubbish as material for generating  一 五0,000 Kwh of power daily.

However, residents are suspicious of the use of unhealthy technology in the project to be built at Khánh Sơn dump.

Nguyễn Đức Sinh, a resident of Hòa Khánh Nam ward, who joined a field trip to the waste treatment project in Cần Thơ last month, said an updated technology waste treatment plant could stop harmful operations, and the plant should be built at another site, not near living quarters.

“We had a visit to the waste processing plant in Cần Thơ that was developed by Ever Bright International. It’s quite smooth operation. However, we could only see a processing test with three dump trucks in two hours,” Sinh said.

Phạm Văn Long, a man living near Khánh Sơn dump, asked the local administration and the Khánh Sơn dum-based project investor to be transparent on the planned facility's technology.

“We want a clear demonstration and explanation on the waste processing technology that will be used for the Khánh Sơn dump-based project, and it needs a public and independent assessment on the health impact of the project,” Long said.