Lam Dong strengthens environmental protection solutions after merger

Attending directly at the Provincial People's Committee bridge point were representatives of leaders of departments and branches: Agriculture and Environment, Finance, Construction, Justice, Health, Provincial People's Committee Office; representatives of leaders of relevant departments, offices and units under the Department of Agriculture and Environment.

Together with representatives of the People's Committees of communes, wards, Phu Quy special zone and related specialized departments and units, participating online at the bridge point of the People's Committee at the commune level.

After the merger, Lam Dong is the largest province in the country with an area of over 24,000 ^km2 , and is greatly affected by the environment from the river system, agricultural chemicals, mineral exploitation, domestic waste and climate change. The two-level administrative model changes the management entity, requiring adjustments to the mechanism and strengthening of environmental protection capacity.

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Lam Dong province, in the period of 2021-2024, the total budget expenditure for environmental protection of Lam Dong province reached nearly 2,192 billion VND, including regular expenditure and development investment expenditure; On average, each year, the total expenditure for environmental protection of the province reached more than 730 billion VND, accounting for over 2.0% of the total regular budget expenditure, higher than the minimum level of 1% as prescribed in Circular No. 02/2017/TT-BTC dated January 6, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance .

The allocation of the environmental protection budget has been carried out in an increasing direction, while ensuring the requirements of the Law on Environmental Protection. The annual allocation of environmental career funds has been reviewed and balanced by the province to suit actual conditions, prioritizing the budget allocation for environmental protection activities, especially the work of classifying, collecting, transporting and treating household waste.

Inspection and examination of environmental protection work are carried out for production, business and service establishments; in parallel with the implementation of environmental protection projects and works and research topics, application of science and technology in environmental database management, and waste treatment from livestock farming activities.

Financial resources for environmental protection currently depend mainly on the State budget, while resource mobilization from the private sector and the community is still limited. There are few organizations and individuals participating in the field of environmental protection investment, making preferential policies of the State such as financial support and land for environmentally friendly production facilities not highly effective.

Currently, Lam Dong only has 3 waste treatment plants (2 in Lam Dong and 1 in the old Dak Nong) invested in construction and put into operation; socialization methods are fragmented, unprofessional, lack equipment... so they have not met the practical requirements in sustainable and effective environmental protection.

Areas in the province also use economic tools for environmental protection, such as: Collecting deposits for environmental restoration, collecting environmental protection fees for industrial wastewater... with the amount of deposits and environmental restoration in mineral exploitation accumulated up to the end of 2024 being hundreds of billions of VND...

Attending the meeting, leaders of commune-level administrative units reported difficulties in waste collection... mainly the current lack of waste treatment plants, especially the difficulty in handling pesticide packaging, lack of places to collect waste, full waste collection sites, and the estimated cost of waste collection is low compared to the service cost...

Concluding the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Trong Yen shared the difficulties and problems of departments, branches and units. The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the Department of Finance and the Department of Agriculture and Environment to quickly issue a unified unit price; if districts are omitted, communes must be consulted to perform this task; 3 areas must consult the Provincial People's Committee to propose a common unit price.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Trong Yen emphasized: When operating a two-level government, the responsibility of the locality is also related to environmental protection; the most difficult thing in waste collection today is that the commune, ward, and special zone levels have to perform the tasks of both the district and commune levels. The work of merging administrative boundaries, converting urban areas into communes or vice versa... also causes difficulties in waste collection activities, especially in industrial parks, craft villages, and urban areas.

In environmental protection, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee identified environmental protection as a very important task and related to all economic sectors. Among the 8 economic development indicators, there are 2 environmental indicators. The Vice Chairman requested the application of science and technology and digital transformation to monitor pollution, prevent early, and look from afar to prevent environmental pollution.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested that localities and units need to go straight to the existing limitations to have solutions to promote environmental protection in a synchronous manner; especially in State management of environmental protection, mineral exploitation... to ensure social relations, national interests, as well as people's health and sustainable development goals...

The Vice Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee directed the Department of Agriculture and Environment to advise the Provincial People's Committee to develop a long-term orientation on environmental protection in a systematic and fundamental manner to attract investment. Communes, wards, and special zones, according to their authority and the functions and tasks of departments and branches, will have consistent direction to submit to the Provincial People's Committee and the responsibility of the head according to the Prime Minister's 6 CLEARANCES.