A concrete manufacturer has submitted a proposal to build an industrial cluster in the buffer zone for a world-recognized Ramsar site in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region.

Local authorities have yet to approve it, amid scientists’ warnings of its possible environmental impacts.

In its proposal, Hanoi-based Ha Thanh Concrete Joint Stock Company wishes to build an industrial complex covering 60 hectares in Tam Nong District, Dong Thap Province, where the company already constructed a 25-hectare glazed tile factory, with an annual capacity of 15 million square meters of tiles, last year.

The firm has already submitted an environmental impact assessment to relevant agencies and are awaiting their approval.

However, the provincial government has yet to give a nod to the project as many scientists have warned that it will likely have severe impacts on Tram Chim National Park, the 2,000th world-recognized Ramsar site, said Tran Thanh Nam, chairman of the Tam Nong district administration.

As it is set to lie within the 16.8-hectare buffer zone for the national park, only 300-700 meters away from the park boundary, the project violates the regulation on buffer zones under the Law on Biodiversity, dangerously affecting the Ramsar site, said Duong Van Ni, an expert from the Mekong Conservation Fund (MCF).

A buffer zone is the space surrounding and adjacent to a conservation area, having the function of preventing and reducing negative impacts from outside on the protected site, as stated in the Vietnamese law. 

Upon operation, noises from this industrial cluster will affect bird behaviors and cause some species to move away from the national park, while its emissions, containing sulfur, would be detrimental to the ecosystem by triggering acid rains, VnExpress cited Ni as saying.

Despite the project’s wastewater treatment plan, its high terrain would make it posisble for wastewater to leak from industrial operations into nearby rivers or canals, according to a report a group of experts filed to the provincial authorities. 

Even the underground water sources would be contaminated, the report said.

Therefore, Dong Thap leaders have assigned the Tam Nong District administration to work with the firm on the relocation of the project to an area toward Tan Hong District to avoid affecting the environment of the Ramsar site.

Covering an area of 7,313 hectares, Tram Chim National Park is home to around 130 pieces of plants, 150 species of fish, 34 types of reptiles and amphibians, and 231 types of water birds, of which 13 are listed as endangered, according to the Vietnam Government Portal.

Ten years ago, the park was recognized as the 2,000th Ramsar site of wetlands of international importance in the world by the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. 

Currently, Vietnam has nine Ramsar sites, including four in the Mekong Delta, namely Tram Chim National Park in Dong Thap Province, Ca Mau Cape National Park in Ca Mau Province, U Minh Thuong National Park in Kien Giang Province, and Lang Sen Wetland Reserve in Long An Province.

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