The Cam Pha Cement Factory under construction in the northern province of Quang Ninh has not affected the environment of Ha Long Bay, the province’s world heritage site, a provincial official said recently.

Talking with a Vietnam News Agency reporter, chairman Nguyen Hong Quan of Quang Ninh’s People’s Committee said that the factory was being built more than 10km from the bay’s sub-region. The completed factory’s waste water and waste gas would be treated according to Viet Nam’s environmental standards before being disposed of under the supervision of the provincial department of science and technology, Quan said.

Clay exploitation would be conducted from Ha Chanh Mine, 25km from the factory, and would not cause dust or affect the environment, Quan added.

Concerns about the factory’s impact on Ha Long Bay’s environment was raised last month in a letter to Quan by Chu Shiu Kee, head of UNESCO’s Ha Noi Office, who asked him to check on the world heritage site’s protection and management activities.

The Cam Pha Cement Factory, with a total cost of VND4.7 trillion (US$293 million), is expected to be finished by 2007. It will be the largest cement factory in the north with a designed capacity of 2.3Mta of cement.