The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has asked agencies in Hau Giang Province to inspect a Hong Kong-invested paper plant after concerns were raised that it will pollute the Hau River.

The paper plant will go into operation this August

The Vietnam Environment Administration was asked to co-operate with the local Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the environmental police to see whether the plant had followed regulations and laws. Experts will be invited to inspect the waste treatment system. The business licence, discharge permit, the plant designs as well as its trial operation plan will be scrutinised. The authorities must be able to access the plant's monitoring system and the public have easy access to the waste treatment monitoring system.

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers has called for a new environmental impact assessment for the USD1.2bn paper project invested by the Hong Kong Lee & Man Paper Group. The plant is scheduled to go into operation this August and will discharge around 28,500 tonnes of sodium hydroxide and 200-300 cubic metres of waste water into Hau Giang River annually, higher than the 10-20 tonnes seen in more modern production lines.

The environmental assessment was conducted by Lee & Man back in 2007. However, VASEP are worried that it will cause environmental pollution, badly affecting the fish and seafood breeding in the Mekong Delta region. A team from Hau Giang Province People's Committee had visited the plant to check the waste treatment facilities but the results have not been released.

The plant's general director Chung Wai Fu, said that they were focusing on the completion of its support facilities at the moment and after trial operation, they would revise the report but the operation should not affect the environment.