Ministry of Agriculture and Environment answers 'hot' issues about environment and land

(Chinhphu.vn) – The work of classifying, collecting and treating domestic solid waste in localities; handling land-related problems when organizing two-level local governments; solving urban air pollution... are hot issues of concern at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has sent a working delegation to 34 localities to guide the implementation of tasks in the land sector under the two-level government model.

On September 4, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment held a regular press conference chaired by Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien. At the conference, many issues related to environmental management and land policies were discussed and answered.

New small-scale household solid waste classification

According to Deputy Director of the Department of Environment Ho Kien Trung, as of June 30, the total amount of domestic solid waste (SWM) generated nationwide was about 69.4 thousand tons/day, with a treatment rate of 91%. The amount of waste generated in Hanoi alone was about 7,300 tons/day and the amount of waste generated in Ho Chi Minh City was about 14,000 tons/day, the total amount of waste from the two cities accounted for about 23% of the country's waste.

Mr. Ho Kien Trung said: "The work of classifying domestic solid waste is still limited to a small scale, mainly piloted in some localities. In rural areas, many households still handle waste in traditional ways such as burying, burning manually or using it as animal feed or bedding. Some localities have initially applied collection, transportation and treatment fees based on the mass or volume of classified waste, but there are still many limitations."

Pointing out the difficulties and challenges in classifying, collecting and treating waste in large cities, Mr. Ho Kien Trung said that the major problem that is causing obstacles is due to the asynchronous technical infrastructure from classifying, collecting, transporting and treating waste after classification.

In addition, mechanisms for mobilizing social resources for waste collection, classification, recycling, and treatment have been available, but their implementation is still limited, so the mobilized resources have not met the demand. The principle of "Polluters must pay for treatment costs" has not been thoroughly applied, especially the lack of collection of full collection, transportation, and treatment service fees, so it has not promoted private resources to invest in collection, transportation, and treatment of solid waste.

On the other hand, the awareness and sense of responsibility of some Party committees, authorities, organizations and people are not adequate about the importance of waste classification to turn waste into resources. The propaganda and mobilization work for households and individuals to raise awareness and sense of responsibility for waste classification is not widespread enough, and has not yet created habits and lifestyles for people.

According to Mr. Ho Kien Trung, based on the identification of key issues in the implementation of waste classification, collection and treatment in large cities in recent times, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has identified a number of fundamental immediate and long-term solutions that need to be focused on promoting.

Accordingly, the Ministry will focus on reviewing shortcomings in solid waste management in the Law on Environmental Protection and the Decree to propose amendments and improvements; issue a Circular promulgating national environmental technical regulations on landfills for domestic solid waste; a Circular guiding a number of contents in investment activities under the public-private partnership method in the field of solid waste treatment...

Localities urgently develop and promulgate technical processes, economic and technical norms, promulgate maximum prices and specific prices, and forms of collection of prices for collection, transportation, and treatment of solid waste according to the mass or volume of solid waste to be treated for each type according to the requirements of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020.

The Ministry is also advising the Government to report to the National Assembly through the National Assembly's Supreme Supervision Delegation "Implementation of policies and laws on environmental protection since the Law on Environmental Protection 2020 took effect" to have a Resolution of the National Assembly on improving the effectiveness and efficiency of promulgating and implementing policies and laws on environmental protection, which allows research to restructure budget expenditure tasks for environmental protection in a focused and key direction, focusing on solving long-standing environmental issues; investing in essential environmental infrastructure works such as systems and infrastructure for collecting, classifying and treating solid waste.

Timely guide localities to implement tasks in the land sector according to the two-level government model.

In addition to environmental issues, another major topic at the press conference was land policy and the implementation of the revised Land Law.

Mr. Mai Van Phan - Deputy Director of the Department of Land Management, said: "According to the previous Land Law, there are two types of land prices: land price list and specific land price, applied in cases of leasing or changing the purpose of use. However, in reality, many problems arise, especially for households and individuals when changing the purpose of use, the cost is often very high".

To resolve this difficulty, the Government has assigned the Ministry of Finance to preside over the drafting of a resolution. The solution being studied is that within the recognized limit, people do not have to pay, and beyond the limit, it will be calculated according to regulations. The Ministry of Finance is currently receiving comments to complete the draft.

In early August, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment also sent 34 officials to localities to support the implementation of tasks in the land sector under the two-tier government model. Mr. Mai Van Phan said that initially, the working groups recorded some positive results, but also pointed out shortcomings such as limited resources after the merger of administrative units, lack of specialized staff in land management, increased workload while the coordination process was unclear.

In addition, the digital transformation process in many places is still slow. The construction of land databases is not yet synchronized and not connected with the public service system, making management and service to the people difficult. "Resources for implementation are still limited, while the workload is increasing," said Mr. Mai Van Phan.

Specifically, in the first week (from August 18 to 25), civil servants coordinated with the Department of Agriculture and Environment to directly work with specialized departments and go to the grassroots to remove difficulties. Provide guidance on handling difficulties when applying the provisions of the 2024 Land Law in determining starting prices for auctioning land use rights when the State allocates land, leases land, recovers land, and changes land use purposes; urge tasks on land inventory, database construction, and propose the need to adjust land use planning. As a result, civil servants have compiled 675 land-related recommendations and 165 recommendations in other areas, many of which have been handled and guided on the spot. In the coming time, the Department will maintain regular online meetings with civil servants in localities, promptly report and advise the Ministry on handling arising issues, ensuring effective implementation of the 2-level government model.

Thu Cuc

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/bo-nnmt-giai-dap-cac-van-de-nong-ve-moi-truong-va-dat-dai-102250904164138157.htm