Environmental Impacts Assessment of Nam Ly Bridge – Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Given Vietnam’s newfound prominence in Asia as the “The New Land of Opportunity”, people search for every opportunity to develop the economy and to satisfy the increasing demands especially in construction of infrastructure. When people gets profit in exchange of other use of land, water and other natural resources, there will be an equal impact in the environmental condition both natural and social.

The question is how to reduce these changes, while still aiming for economic growth.

Ms. Trinh Thi Thu Ha made a case study which main objectives were to: (1) study environmental impacts assessment methods; (2) compare of the Viet Nam’s policies and ADB’s policies in EIA; and (3) study environmental impacts assessment of construction project in Viet Nam

Conclusion

EIA is one of the policy tools that are used to evaluate project proposals. It is also a relatively recent development when compared to use of economic appraisal methods in Viet Nam.

Most of the construction projects in Vietnam which will invest funds from many different capitals are required to comply with laws and regulations to implement the project, and EIA must be researched in Preparation stage and presented in the Appraisal stage.

The contents of the EIA is usually consists of 9 parts such as: Introduction; Description of the Project; Description of the Environment; Alternatives; Anticipated Environmental Impacts and Mitigation Measures; Economic Assessment; Environmental Management Plan; Public Involvement and Disclosure; and Conclusions.
The EMP explains how the measures will be managed, who will implement them, and when and where they will be implemented.

During project implementation, the clients must implement properly the approved content of the EIA to ensure that the negative impacts have been mitigated so that the environment and the community have been protected for the sustainable development objectives.

There are differences between Vietnamese policies and the sponsors’ policies for EIA in Vietnam. With ODA projects, World Bank and Asian Development Bank have also established regulations and guidelines to ensure that EIA applies to projects funded. Possible policies and activities required them in different way, but the process is relatively the same for the building and approving the EIA. In Vietnam, in addition to the applicable policies of the sponsors for the project, the EIA also have to establish compliance with current policies of the government of Vietnam.
However, if there are differences between the policies of Vietnam and the donor's policies, they must apply the policies of the donors, which is required in the loan terms.

Recommendations:

1. Adjustment or harmonization of policies and laws in the implementation of EIA, without gaps to the policies of the donors (ADB, World Bank, etc.).

2. The Government should establish training programs for students of the EIA and raise awareness and capacity about the protection and management for environmental leaders, department managers and community;

3. Establish public databases and share the parameters of environmental quality for other projects in Vietnam;

4. There should be public participation during the implementation of EIA. The project must be publicly reviewed and evaluated by the public.

5. Full finance for the EIA study.

Her thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

The demands of people increase rapidly while the resources are limited. To satisfy the increasing demands, people search for every opportunity to develop the economy. Because of that, investing for construction of infrastructure is a need to develop economic regions, is a progress in the development of the society.

When human bring in financial to change the patterns of use of land, water and other natural resources, they will receive back profit from economy development, but will also change the other elements of the environment like natural condition and social.
Reducing the burden of environmental impacts is necessary if development is to become sustainable. Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) has become of ever increasing importance as a tool for development decision-making.

Environmental impact assessment, as a national instrument, shall be undertaken for proposed activities that are likely to have a significant adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision of a competent national authority.
In practice, EIA is applied primarily to prevent or minimize the adverse effects of major development proposals.