Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Ma Thi Thuy Province: Need to remove obstacles when applying the Law on Environmental Protection in mountainous areas

On the afternoon of October 28, continuing the program of the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the supervision report and draft Resolution of the National Assembly on the results of the thematic supervision of "implementation of policies and laws on environmental protection (EP) since the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 took effect".

Speaking at the discussion, Comrade Ma Thi Thuy, member of the Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of the XVth term, Tuyen Quang province, agreed with the Supervision Report and the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on the results of thematic supervision; assessed that the report objectively and comprehensively reflected the results, limitations and practical solutions. In addition, from the supervision practice at the local level, the delegates pointed out many shortcomings in the law enforcement process.

Delegate Ma Thi Thuy spoke in the discussion.

Regarding the feasibility of policies and implementation of legal regulations: The Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation said that the roadmap for waste classification at source and collection of fees by volume (no later than December 31, 2024) is not feasible, especially difficult to implement in mountainous areas. The reason is that the terrain is fragmented, the population is scattered, while the collection system is not yet complete, and the budget for environmental protection is limited. Currently, the collection infrastructure is mainly manual burial, many communes do not have standard collection points or incinerators.

In addition, the regulations require enterprises to build tanks and reservoirs to respond to environmental incidents (according to Article 111 of the Law and Decree 08), but up to now there have been no specific regulations or technical standards. This causes difficulties for facilities in design and appraisal, leading to different applications between localities and high investment costs.

Regarding automatic monitoring of wastewater and emissions, delegates said this is the right policy, but installation and maintenance costs are still high, and technical regulations are not yet consistent, causing difficulties for businesses.

Comrade Ma Thi Thuy also pointed out that the current situation of medical waste management is still difficult and lacks uniformity. Many commune health stations do not have a wastewater treatment system that meets standards or a hazardous waste collection process that complies with regulations. The source classification is not thorough, and there is still a situation of mixing hazardous and normal waste.

Regarding enforcement resources, delegates affirmed that decentralization and delegation of power create great challenges for localities because the environmental management human resources, especially at the commune level, are still very thin, inspection work in many places is still formal; Environmental protection infrastructure in industrial clusters has not been fully invested in accordance with the Law. Socialization policies are not strong enough to attract businesses to invest in waste and wastewater treatment in rural, remote and isolated areas.

Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of the province, Ma Thi Thuy, agreed with the solutions of the Supervisory Delegation and proposed that the National Assembly direct the review and amendment of regulations on the roadmap for applying the policy on domestic solid waste management (according to Clause 7, Article 79) to ensure feasibility, especially for mountainous areas. In addition, it is necessary to simplify administrative procedures, such as environmental licensing procedures for small projects; consider adjusting the authority to grant environmental licenses from the provincial People's Committee to the Chairman of the provincial People's Committee or specialized agencies to speed up the progress and also in line with the current decentralization.

It is recommended that the Government and ministries and branches promptly issue specific technical guidelines for incident response projects, and consider support mechanisms and deductions for investment costs of automatic monitoring stations; issue missing technical guidelines for local implementation (such as landfill closure procedures, pesticide packaging management, on-site wastewater treatment technology). In particular, regarding the carbon market, it is recommended that the Government urgently direct clear regulations on ownership rights and payment mechanisms for forest carbon credits to people and communities. This is an important legal basis for provinces with large forest areas to promote green economic advantages.

Regarding resources, it is recommended to specify the increase of targeted support capital from the central budget for disadvantaged localities, focusing on solid waste and wastewater treatment infrastructure. Along with that, it is necessary to issue strong incentive mechanisms to attract private investment in this field, especially in rural areas.

To completely resolve environmental issues, Deputy Head of the Provincial Delegation of National Assembly Deputies Ma Thi Thuy requested the Government to continue allocating sufficient investment resources for grassroots healthcare, ensuring that commune health stations have wastewater and waste treatment systems that meet standards; strengthen environmental inspection and auditing work and strictly handle violations by organizations and individuals in the environmental field.

Ngoc Hung

Source: https://baotuyenquang.com.vn/thoi-su-chinh-tri/202510/pho-truong-doan-dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-chuyen-trach-tinh-ma-thi-thuy-can-thao-go-vuong-mac-khi-ap-dung-luat-bao-ve-moi-truong-tai-mien-nui-42c79b7/