Residents of Saigon’s southern neighborhoods, such as Phu My Hung and Binh Chanh, have been dealing with a pungent daily smell for the last month, reports Tuoi Tre.
Since July, locals living in the above-mentioned areas have reported the presence of a foul odor, the source of which yet to be determined. The smell tends to be strongest from 7pm to 8pm daily, greatly inconveniencing residents in the vicinity.
According to Mai Van, a resident of My Vien community in Phu My Hung, the strange smell is not new to the area; however, it has gotten worse recently.
“[The area] has experienced a stink in the air for the last three to four years, especially in the parking area and rooftop,” she shared with BBC Vietnamese. “However, this particular sour smell [from 8pm until early morning the next day] has only been around for the last two weeks.”
Tuoi Tre reports that Phu My Hung’s management board recently filed a complaint to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee in the hope that the problem would be investigated. According to the document, the board has examined the community’s facilities, especially the waste management system, in an attempt to determine the cause of the foul smell, but the results showed no inherent issues in the neighborhood.
The People’s Committee still hasn’t issued any response on the matter, but locals have their own guess regarding the origin of the stink: the Da Phuoc landfill compound.
The Da Phuoc waste management complex, which started operating in 2007, is Saigon’s largest landfill, currently processing about 5,000 tons of the city’s garbage per day, Zing reports. On August 25, the facility’s management company, Vietnam Waste Solutions (VWS), released a report on the smell in an effort to address public concerns.
According to Zing, the document surmises that the stink is due to pig excrement and decomposing fish currently dumped at the site. VWS is also assessing the strength of the smell emanating from garbage trucks to adjust their usual collection route accordingly in order to minimize the impact on residential areas.
Still, the company also urged the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to investigate and tackle the root cause of the funk as soon as possible to improve the air quality in the affected areas.
Not only has the smell been causing trouble for local residents, it has also persisted for long enough to start affecting the real estate market in the neighborhood. According to Huyen Thanh, a real estate agent in Saigon South, her customers have already started noticing the stink.
Due to this odious addition to the air, it’s now harder to sell or rent a housing unit in Phu My Hung because potential buyers will be stricter in their assessment, she shared. “This is a huge setback for the local investment market, unless the air pollution problem is resolved completely in the near future,” Thanh told VnExpress in an interview.
[Photo via Zing]
