HANOI, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's Ministry of Finance is working on an environmental fee proposal on greenhouse-gas-emitting facilities, in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint and encourage green practices, local media reported on Tuesday.
Under the proposal, facilities emitting pollutants will be mandated to pay a fixed fee and a variable fee, local newspaper Vietnam News reported.
The fixed fee stands at 3 million Vietnamese dong (127 U.S. dollars) annually. The variable rate ranges from 500-800 dong (0.02-0.03 dollar) per tonne and is applied to four major pollutants -- total dust, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and carbon monoxide, according to the proposal.
The introduction of the fees is projected to increase fiscal revenue by 1.2 trillion dong (50.4 million dollars), which could be used to tackle air pollution at the grassroots level, the newspaper said.
Local experts however have mixed opinions on the proposal, expressing concerns that it may exacerbate the financial pressure faced by businesses already grappling with the economic slowdown.
Ngo Tri Long, former head of the Price Research Institute under the ministry, said that amid the economic downtown, the government should abolish more fees to support manufacturers, not the other way around.
Economic expert Le Anh Tuan said it is not the right time for the proposal. New equipment and machinery to cut gas emissions would be too much for them during this tough time, he said.
Economic expert Nguyen Khac Quoc Bao did not approve of the idea that its scope should be expanded to cover vehicle owners, who had already paid environmental fees through fuel bills.
With 5.1 million cars on the road, 120,000 manufacturing facilities, 110,000 construction companies, and dozens of heavy-industry complexes in the country, the amount of pollutants released daily into the atmosphere has reached a point that demands tough action, according to the finance ministry. ■
