HCM City Farmers to Start Lawsuit against Taiwan Vedan in July

Ho Chi Minh City’s Farmers Association will start a lawsuit against Vedan, a Taiwanese-invested monosodium glutamate maker, in July, the Nong Nghiep Viet Nam newspaper cited an official as saying June 18. The municipal authorities have agreed to advance money from its budget to support Can Gio district’s farmers affected by the firm’s untreated wastewater into Thi Vai River to follow the case, Chairman Nguyen Van Phung said. Meanwhile, authorities of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau said it also planned to advance money from different sources to support their farmers for the suit, the newspaper added. Dong Nai authorities have not accepted Vedan’s initial compensation of VND15 billion for affected households in Long Thanh and Nhon Trach districts. However, the local authorities have not yet taken any move to sue the polluter. Vedan was found to directly dump more than 5,000 cubic meters of untreated wastewater per day into the Thi Vai River for more than 16 years until its wrongdoing was made public in 2008.