The Da Nang People’s Committee has recently decided to officially stop the operations of the Dana-Italy and Dana-Australia steel factories, both located in Hoa Vang District’s Hoa Lien Commune, due to their reportedly polluting activities.

A prosperous corner of Da Nang viewed from above (Photo: Dang No)

Meanwhile, the two plants are still allowed to continue their transport, import-export and administrative activities, under the condition that the time, and types of vehicle and number of people involved in these processes must be reported to the Hoa Lien Commune authorities for supervision.

As the shutdown option was adopted, the city also cancelled the plan on resettlement of families residing in these factories’ neighbouring areas. 

Previously, many local residents had continuously complained that the operations of the 2 steel factories have affected the local landscape and residents’ lives, and were not in line with the development orientation for the area.

It is the fact that the city government’s decision clearly demonstrates its great efforts to turn the locality into a liveable, environmentally-friendly, modern peaceful and civilised city.

The city authorities have always showed their firm stance on only approving new projects which are environmentally friendly and match with the city’s sustainable development strategies.

Over the past decade, the city authorities have even rejected some FDI projects which might have caused negative impacts on the local environment. 

In 2007, for example, the city leaders said “No” to at least 2 FDI projects worth a total of around 2.5 billion USD.  One was a steel mill development by a joint venture between the Taiwan China Steel Corporation and Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd, whilst the other was a Japanese-funded pulp mill.  

In 2015, the go-ahead was also not given to the construction of 2 South Korean-owned textile factories, worth over 200 million USD in total, because their weaving and dyeing processes might have harmed the local environment.

Besides, many positive results have been recorded from the ongoing ‘Building Da Nang Environmentally-friendly City’ project.

To date, dedicated wastewater treatment systems have been set up in 6 local industrial parks.  Also, the city is one of the country’s pioneering localities in radically handling seriously polluting manufacturing establishments in accordance with a decision approved by the Prime Minister.

In particular, effective measures have been taken to resolve such environmental pollution hotspots as the Tho Quang Fishing Wharf, and areas in the basin of the Phu Loc River.

Heavy administrative penalties have been imposed on environmental violations, for instance, the discharge of untreated waste water into the environment.

Notably, by 2020, the city is aiming to become a locality fully capable of preventing environmental pollution and degradation on the basis of the consciousness and joint efforts made by the local political system and all citizens.

Currently, appeals are being widely made for more FDI projects in industrial and trade services, hi-tech industries, and other aspects. 

The city is rolling out the red carpet for both domestic and foreign investors, and it is committed to guaranteeing equal treatment of them all.