In recent days, many residents in Nghi Thiet Commune, including children, sat along the main road leading to the Vissai seaport in Nghi Loc District where Song Lam Cement Company is planning to build a coal storage yard.
A local Nghi Thiet Commune resident said, "We’re very worried that they’re going to build a coal storage yard that will cause environmental pollution like many other places.”
Hundreds of local police officers were dispatched to the site.
Residents took shifts at the gate, set up tents, and assigned children to stand in the road to prevent trucks from entering the port.
Nghi Loc District Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Tho said after the local authorities worked with residents, they agreed to return home.
Tho said local residents had protested as they feared the project could trigger serious environmental pollution.
On June 23, local authorities, the management board of the Southeast Economic Zone and leaders of Song Lam Cement Company, the operator of Vissai Port, held a dialogue with the angry residents.
Hoang Minh Tuan, director of Song Lam Cement Company, said the company had not yet carried out the project.
The company also pledged to ensure strict environmental protection criteria if work on the project starts. Because this is a transit point; no coal burning was allowed, Tuan added.
The company's production is compliant with the law and is monitored automatically.
"Contamination incidents are unavoidable. The company has been in operation for nearly seven years but only two incidents of pollution happened, which lasted jus a few minutes," Tuan added.
The 2,000-metre-long wharf was put into operation in October 2017, located in Nghi Thiet Commune. The wharf serves mainly for the transportation of Song Lam Cement Company's clinker and cement.
