Vietnam’s southern province of Dong Nai is planning to relocate 75 families with 300 people living near the Bien Hoa military airport, former American airbase and dioxin hotspot, for cleanup work, local media reported, citing an official of the provincial People’s Committee. Mr. Vo Van Chanh, vice chairman of the committee, said that around 24,000 cubic meters of land on an area of 4.6 hectares are contaminated with dioxin. The province’s authorities have got the resettlement area ready and will start moving local households in June, Mr. Chanh said, adding that the dioxin-infected land will be transferred to those in charge of the cleaning work early next year. The province’s authorities have approved a compensation plan for the affected residents with a total sum of VND145 billion ($6.2 million), he added. Bien Hoa airport is believed to be the largest dioxin hotspot in Vietnam, with more than 500,000 cubic meters of land in need of detoxification. (ThanhNien, thanhnien.vn)
