by Vu Kim Chung
30-5-2000
Construction of Vietnam's second north-south highway sparked an unusual if somewhat belated public controversy, with officials trading allegations of arrogance and incompetence over the environmental impact.
Work on the US$380 million 1,700 km route had already begun by the end of May 2000 and, as planned, would cut through at least 10 protected areas - including one awaiting listing as a World Heritage Site. Foreign environmental groups first expressed their concerns in March, but the last week of May saw an acrimonious debate in state-controlled newspapers and on TV panel discussions. Transport Ministry officials accused their counterparts in the Environment Ministry of "tardiness". They, in turn, alleged that they were either not consulted or their advice ignored.
"Why is it only now, after the Prime Minister [Phan Van Khai] has performed the project's ground-breaking ceremony, that we get all these complaints?" asked one unnamed transport official in the Vietnam Investment Review. "The highway has had a four-year planning process. When we asked the Ministry of Environment for any environmental impact objections, they said they didn't really have any."
Planned for completion by mid-2003, the project was fast-tracked after flooding in central Vietnam in late 1999. But environmentalists claim the rapid implementation of the project meant impact studies had been ignored.
"This project seriously violates the Forest Protection and Development Law," said Ha Dinh Duc, professor of biology at Hanoi's University of Science, adding he believed the Transport Ministry had down-played the potential impact. "It is not true to say environmental officials were consulted. I knew nothing of the [highway's route] until early this month, and most Environment Ministry officials only became aware during a conference on May 17."
Long sections follow the Ho Chi Minh Trail and cut through areas virtually untouched since the war that contain rare, diverse flora and fauna. Environment officials warned the highway would expose those areas to deforestation as a result of spontaneous migration and plantation agriculture, while increasing access to poachers. Planners did, however, make concessions, re-routing the road to lessen the impact on three national parks and four cultural sites.