875 Can Gio households to get Vedan compensation

Can Gio District in HCMC has closed the list of 875 local households eligible to receive pollution compensation money from Vedan Vietnam, up by 36 from an earlier list announced by the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of National Resources and Environment.

Among 839 households on the institute’s list, 57 are ineligible for the compensation while 93 others are added to the list. The eligible recipients were inhabitants of HCMC and had production or fishing activities in the polluted areas from 1994 to 2008, said Doan Van Son, vice chairman of the district.

The Taiwanese company on January 12 completed the second payout to the local farmers’ union as pledged.

“The district, although having received a total of VND45.7 billion from Vedan, has decided to deliver money to local farmers in two stages. The first stage is from January 23 to 28 and the next from February 20 to 28,” Son said.

“The two-stage payment will provide 57 families with time to prove the damages they incurred between 1994 and 2008. If they have enough evidence, we will give full compensation money to them in the second stage,” Son explained.

According to Tuoi Tre, Vedan has completed transferring the total compensation amount of VND220 billion to affected families in HCMC, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces. Dong Nai received nearly VND120 billion while Ba Ria-Vung Tau took VND53.6 billion. The enterprise paid the compensation in two installments.