The government of Vietnam has turned down a proposal by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to lower the environment fee and natural resource tax for the Tan Tai and Nhan Co bauxite-alumina projects in the Central Highlands. Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha said at a press briefing on April 1 that the environment fee and natural resource tax will be kept unchanged from the regulated rates. This means that the projects will suffer the environment fee of VND30,000-VND50,000 per cubic meter. Mr. Ha added that Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai also rejected the MoIT’s proposal on reducing investment in red mud reservoirs as it will cause threats to safety of the bauxite residue treatment. The proposals have met strong objections among economists and the public who said that the projects are likely to incur losses of trillions of dong from now till 2020 despite a series of incentives. (Tien Phong – Pioneer Apr 3 p2, Tuoi Tre – Youth Apr 3 p4)
