Minister: Red-mud lakes in highlands region are safe

The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Pham Khoi Nguyen, assured that two red-mud lakes in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam were safe.

Minister Nguyen answering reporters

The Minister assured this furing an interview with reporters on the sidelines of the on-going National Assembly sessions.

Has the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) reviewed safety of the two mud-red lakes after a recent red-mud spill in Hungary?

The ministry has appraised this very carefully. We have surveyed red-mud models in Brazil and Australia where green trees have been grown in mud-red areas for 20 years. Currently, we are following their model, not Hungary’s.

According to assessments of the MoNRE on two red mud reservoirs, we assure the safety of the reservoirs in theory. However, we should further research on their safety standards.

As you said, many projects in Vietnam do not pay much attention to their impact on the environment and also underestimate costs for environment issues. How about bauxite projects?

We have calculated an environmental cost of between USD30 million and USD50 million to build a red-mud lake. The appraisal is made cautiously with the participation of the State Council and foreign experts.

The safety standard has been improved in line with the assumption that a Central Highlands earthquake could reach nine on the Richter scale against the initial seven.

Technology to processing red mud in the Central Highlands region is different from that in Hungary. In Hungary, the mud is contained in a lake, but we process the red mud in many small reservoirs of 5ha each.

What else is the ministry doing to enhance the safety of the project?

We have set up a task force that includes representatives from the ministries of Natural Resources and Environment; Industry and Trade; and provincial people’s committees to supervise the red-mud reservoir construction. This is the first task force of its kind for a construction project in Vietnam to date.

How does the ministry deal with other environmental issues related to bauxite projects?

Bauxite projects are involved in three environmental issues; comprising red-mud lakes, technology to exploit the mud, and wastes of bauxite plants, which are all appraised.

How many projects in Vietnam have environmental costs been calculated properly?

The majority of production projects in Vietnam do not include environmental costs. Many factors use backward technology and discharge toxic waste into the environment. If environmental costs are calculated properly, many of them will have to be closed. Environmental costs will dent a company's earnings.

The state will have regulations on environment labeling for products which have taxes and include environmental costs in the coming time.