Strict monitoring requested for Formosa’s blast furnace test run
A test run of the first blast furnace of Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company must undergo strict supervision after the firm restarted its operations on May 29, said an official.
Hanoi (VNA) – A test run of the first blast furnace of Hung NghiepFormosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company must undergo strict supervision after thefirm restarted its operations on May 29, said an official.
Hoang Duong Tung, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Environment Administrationunder the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), made thestatement at the ministry’s press conference in Hanoi the same day.
A delegation went to the company last week to inspect the blast furnace, Tungsaid, adding that samples of wastewater are collected every five minutes forexamination.
MoNRE gave Formosa the green light to test the blast furnace on May 10 after thecompany fixed 52 out of 53 faults. Continuous examinations from July 2016showed that Formosa’s wastewater met national standards on steel sewage and industrialsewage.
In April last year, wastewater discharged from the Taiwan-based steel companypolluted more than 200 kilometres of coastline, devastating the marine environmentand local economies of central Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and ThuaThien-Hue provinces which have been largely relied on fishing and tourism.
Four months later, the company owned up to its mistake, offering a publicapology and pledging 500 million USD as compensation for affected fishermen,households and organisations.-VNA
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Examination at the company (Photo: VNA) 
