Authorities in the central city of Da Nang have asked the Military Zone 5 Command under the Ministry of Defense of Vietnam to spare 7.7 hectares (19 hectares) next to the Khanh Son Landfill in Lien Chieu District. The Military Zone 5 covers the Central Highlands and south central Vietnam.
If the landfill, the only one in the central coastal city, is not enlarged, it will be overloaded nine months from now, city Chairman Huynh Duc Tho said Friday.
Nguyen Thanh Nam, vice chairman of Son Tra District, said garbage has been piling up around the city, posing a pollution threat, upsetting residents and adversely affecting the image of Da Nang, the third most important city in Vietnam after Hanoi and Saigon.
Da Nang residents, numbering around 1.2 million, produce 1,000 tons of garbage each day.
Tho said the sooner the city gets more space to bury its trash, the better.
Residents living near the Khanh Son Landfill had blocked garbage trucks from entering the landfill several times, demanding city authorities to deal with pollution caused by the dump.
The city government had promised that the landfill would be moved away from the residential area before this year.
Da Nang had planned to build a complex to treat solid waste in Hoa Vang District, but it has yet to come up with an investment solution and for now, expanding the existing landfill is considered the most feasible solution.
Da Nang officials had said in February that the city would sign contracts with Singapore’s Sakae Corporate Advisory and Surbana Jurong companies to make adjustments to its master urban planning.
They said the plans would have to include solutions to tackle key problems like infrastructure overload, climate change response and environmental protection.