Dust surrounds residents along Highway 19

Misery because of the front house

In front of Nhon Hoa Industrial Park (An Nhon town) is a large construction site. This is one of the important traffic intersections of the North-South expressway project, passing through Binh Dinh.

The National Highway 19 overpass is under construction; two-way traffic has been temporarily transferred to the adjacent gravel section. That scene, combined with the constant flow of vehicles entering and exiting the industrial park, has turned this place into a particularly bustling place with screeching engine noise and billowing, smoky clouds of dust.

Many houses have their doors locked. Some are even more careful, covering wooden and iron doors with protective layers of cloth or nylon. Not everyone can keep their doors closed all day long. In Nam Tuong 1 village, Nhon Tan commune, An Nhon town, Ms. Chau Thi Kim Hoa, owner of Tu Hoa restaurant, complained: “The house is 40m long but dust still creeps out to the back. I don’t know how many times a day I clean it, the dust accumulates into pounds and kilograms. It’s so stuffy and oppressive that my husband wants to sell the house and move somewhere else.”

Hope the highway will be completed soon

In village 3, Binh Nghi commune, Tay Son district, Ms. Le Thi Suong is on pins and needles. Her family has a wedding, and she is worried, will guests be deterred by the dust? "My house rents out billiard tables, sells coffee and refreshments, I have closed them all for a long time. But my children's weddings, how can I postpone them?", she said. The area where Ms. Suong lives is directly exposed to the transportation route of 4 mines at the TS27 mine. More than once, local residents have spontaneously come out to block it. The solution to reduce environmental pollution ultimately depends on the self-awareness of the drivers.

At the turnoff from the TS27 mine group to Highway 19, there is a shallow water basin designed to suppress dust. According to regulations, before entering the highway, all vehicles transporting materials must “dip” their wheels into it.

Lao Dong reporters spent a mid-September afternoon observing the scene and saw that the stream of vehicles entering and exiting the mine only slowed down and widened their distance when they discovered they were being photographed or filmed.

In report 332/BC-UBND dated August 29 sent to Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee, Project Management Board (PMU) 2, Ministry of Transport, Vice Chairman of Tay Son District People's Committee Nguyen Van Khanh reflected the situation of "slow construction, dust spreading in the air for a long time affecting people's lives".

In an interview with reporters, in addition to the above-mentioned role of “water buckets”, Mr. Khanh mentioned the effects of road watering trucks. However, the local government representative also admitted: “Tay Son has many mining sites serving key projects, making it difficult to completely control negative environmental impacts. At this time, the embankment of the North-South Expressway is almost finished.”