The proposal calls for 422 such enterprises in the inner city and urban areas covering a total area of nearly 900ha to be removed. Those enterprises were defined as contributing to environmental pollution, wasting resources, and causing too much noise.

According to the Ha Noi People’s Committee vice chairman Nguyen Huy Tuong, enterprises could choose one of three options if they were forced to move.

First, they could return their land and move to designated industrial and processing zones.

Second, enterprises could alter the use of their land in accordance with urban planning.

Third, enterprises could co-ordinate with other investors to implement a new project on the new land plot that complies with urban planning regulations.

Deadline set

The city expected to remove 115 enterprises by 2013, said Tuong, and 2015 would be the deadline for removal of the rest.

"Enterprises unable to move must alter their land-use purpose or implement measures to resolve environmental pollution and take serious measures to implement environmental protection regulations as stipulated in the law," he said.

According to Tuong, the municipal Department of Planning and Architecture has requested the removal of 142 industrial manufacturing enterprises from Ha Noi’s inner city since 2003. "However, only 22 enterprises have been removed thus far. Projects aimed at transferring land-use purposes have been created for 32 others," Tuong said.

"The reason the procedure is slow is that enterprises lack awareness about the significance of environmental protection," he said. He added that more incentive policies for helping enterprises quickly move and settle into new locations were required.