Da Nang has topped the country in the application of a set of Environmental Protection Indicators (PEPI) which was issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), according to a recent announcement by the Ministry.

The set of indicators include criteria to evaluate the implementation of environmental protection tasks and public satisfaction over the quality of the living environment among centrally-run cities and provinces nationwide.

The indicators have been applied since 2020 in line with new institutions of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 that became effective from January 1.

Da Nang took the lead in the national PEPI ranking with the highest score of 79.82 points, followed by Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province with 78.79 points, Tra Vinh Province with 77.52 points, Can Tho City with 74.04 points, Binh Duong Province with 71.89 points, Long An Province with 71.87 points, Vinh Long Province with 71.55 points, Quang Ninh Province with 71.14 points, Bac Giang Province with 70.35 points, and Nghe An Province with 70.01 points.

Basing on these results, the MoNRE has asked leaders of authorities in cities and provinces nationwide to take more effective action to improve their environmental performance in order to achieve better outcomes in implementing the indicators in the following years.

According to the Da Nang Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the city achieved many impressive environmental protection indicators among 26 criteria to evaluate the implementation of environmental protection tasks. In which, the rate of the collection and the treatment of urban wastewater in the city that meet the national environmental standards reached 88.2% while that of production and service establishments which generate wastewater from 50 m³ per day or more and have their own wastewater treatment systems stood at 98.68 %.

All industrial parks, export processing zones, high-tech parks, and industrial clusters in the city have their own dedicated wastewater treatment systems that meet the national environmental standards. Meanwhile, the percentage of hospitals and healthcare facilities with wastewater treatment systems that meet the national environmental standards reached 90.91%.

The average number of public transport vehicles per 10,000 habitants is 5.22. The proportion of hazardous waste treatment and solid domestic waste disposal in the city reached 100% while that of solid waste classification at source of households stood at 80-82%.

The percentage of rehabilitation of contaminated sites in the city reached100% while 100% of people in urban and rural areas have access to clean water.

Nature reserves occupy 100% of the total area planned for biodiversity and nature conservation while newly planted forests occupy 1.49% of the total area planned for forests. The area of ​​deforestation and forest fires stood at only 0.82 ha.

Electric output from residential solar service providers for the Da Nang Power Company is 83.1 million kWh. The average number of automatic air quality monitoring stations in urban centers of grade 4 and above per 10,000 habitants is 0.04. The percentage of industrial parks, production and service establishments that have installed automatic wastewater – emission monitoring systems in accordance to the national regulations reached 54.35%.

Environmental protection expenditure from the Da Nang government amounted to 6.15%. The average number of public employees and officials who perform environmental protection tasks per 1 million habitants reached 125.47. Meanwhile, the handling of public complaints about environmental pollution reached 100%.

Reporting by HOANG HIEP – Translating by H.L