The facility developer, Lee & Man Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Lee & Man Paper, has employed 168 workers, mostly Chinese, but only 98 of them had obtained a work permit, according to the province’s industrial parks management board.

 

In the meantime, 14 contractors of the paper mill also employed 210 laborers, also mainly Chinese nationals, but only three of them are legal workers.

 

According to the agency for corporate development under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, foreign laborers must register a work permit to work in Vietnam.

 

An official of the Hau Giang industrial parks management board said that those illegal workers have entered Vietnam via tourist visas.

 

They then rented houses in the province or the southern city of Can Tho and worked at the paper plant.

“We have repeatedly asked them to apply for a work permit, but they just ignored,” Nguyen Ngoc Dien, deputy director of the board, said.

 

Dien admitted, however, that his agency is not responsible for inspecting or handling the illegal workers.

In the meantime, the Hau Giang Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs and the provincial administration said they had authorized the industrial parks management board to handle the issue.

A spokesperson of the Hau Giang administration said that local officials are mindful of the issue.

 

However, he said that he was “not allowed to reply” when asked how the province handles the violators.

The Lee & Man facility has previously sparked concern over the possible dangers it poses to the local environment, particularly the Hau River, one of the most important waterways in the southern region.

 

The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) even lodged a complaint with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc calling for a careful consideration over the planned operation of the plant.