Vietnam will increase spending for environment protection activities to VND6 trillion ($324.69 million) in 2010, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen told state media. Nguyen said that the ministry will send teams of inspectors to check all major rivers across Vietnam and environmental protection activities at 100 industrial zones. “Up to 80% of enterprises in Vietnam reportedly use technologies of the 1980s, not to say 1,400 out of 2000 craft villages that are dirtying environment,” Mr Nguyen said. Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai has asked the ministry to finalize the regulations on environment assessment and submit them to the government for approval in the second quarter.
