Residents of a luxury apartment building in Nghe An Province’s Vinh City have complained about serious environmental pollution, mostly caused by Big C Supermarket Vinh.
Wastewater Vinh city centre
Those who live in the Vicentra Building on Quang Trung Street, said the supermarket discharges a considerable amount of wastewater and waste into the surrounding neighbourhood.
From 9-10am and 3-5pm daily, dozens of lorries carry goods, food and other goods to the supermarket. After the delivery, they pile up waste including plastic, cardboard and wooden boxes, leaving it on the roadside along Ngu Hai Road, close to National Highway 1A.
Workers often water these boxes, leaving residue on the road’s surface.
Wastewater has covered Tran Phu Road for years
The supermarket is also opposite the Vietnam-Germany Culture House for Children, so waste the waste has affected students and teachers as well.
A local woman said, “Sometimes, they discharge so much waste that it obstructs the drainage system, allowing sewage to flow into the culture house’s gate, hindering access by students, teachers and parents."
The situation gets worse on hot days, and is added to by wastewater discharge by Vicentra Trade Centre.
Nguyen Phuoc Tam, an owner of a motorbike store in the area said wastewater together with rain water remain on the road even during sunny days.
Pollution seriously affects people’s lives
“Some drivers have had accidents due to the slippy road. We’ve made several proposals to the building’s investors and local authorities but the situation has yet to improve,” Tam said.
The 20-storey Vicentra building belongs to Eurowindow Holding’s Vinh Trade Centre Investment JSC, and has been in operational since late 2011. Big C Vinh uses four lower floors of the building.
Tran Thanh Nga, in charge of the supermarket’s sanitation and quality control, said they have hired a company to collect, classify and treat waste.
“Unfortunately, we haven't been able to build a separate facility because the local authorities haven't allocated any land for construction,” Nga noted.
No measures have been taken
She pledged to check and improvement sanitation during and after deliveries.
Nguyen Canh Mao, director of Vicentra Vinh trade centre admitted that wastewater has continued to plague local resident since late last year.
“After being informed of the situation, we’ve proposed that Vinh Urban Management Department and Vinh Urban Infrastructure Company deal with the drain system obstruction. However, they passed off the responsibility to the municipal Department of Transport and have taken no moves to rectify the problem,” Mao commented.
He added that the centre is willing to contribute some money to deal with the situation but they cannot do it alone.
