Vietnam will need an estimated VND14 trillion ($666.66 million) for removing post-war bombs, mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) until 2015, as part of a national action plan recently approved by the prime minister. The plan is to help bomb and mine victims integrate into community, raise public awareness to avoid bomb-related accidents and clean up such explosives to serve the country’s socio-economic development. As planned, up to 500,000 hectares of bomb-polluted land will be cleaned up, focusing on provinces with serious contamination and those often having such pitiful accidents. In 2000-2008, the country only cleared more than 100,000 hectares of bomb-polluted land, which make up 3.28% of the country’s total contaminated land area. Meanwhile, bomb-polluted lands account for more than 20% of Vietnam’s total land area, causing difficulties in agricultural production and threatening lives of local residents. In fact, thousands of unexploded bombs and grenades are still buried in the ground across Vietnam. More than 40,000 people have died of the leftover explosives since the war ended in 1975. Vietnam will release a map of bomb and mine pollution this year in a move to speed up the progress and raise efficiency of bomb and mine removal. (Sai Gon Giai Phong – Saigon Liberation May 15 p7)
