BANGKOK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th March, 2023) About three hectares of the former US Air Force base of Bien Hoa in Vietnam, accounting for four percent of the area, which needs to be treated under a program by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Vietnamese Defense Ministry, has been cleared of dioxins, Vietnamese state news portal Viet Nam News reported Wednesday.
The decontaminated area was handed over to the southern province of Dong Nai.
Vietnam's Deputy Minister of National Defense Sen. Lt. Gen. Hoàng Xuân Chiến said the Bien Hoa air base decontamination is an important project for US-Vietnam cooperation in overcoming the war consequences.
US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper then said the program is an example of reconciliation of former foes who can "move forward as trusted friends."
The United States allocated more than $70 million for a further five-year decontamination program. A relevant statement was made during an event to return the treated land on Tuesday, with the participation of visiting USAID Administrator Samantha Power. Under a new contract, US small business Nelson Environmental Remediation USA will design and build a facility to decontaminate soil and sediment on and around the air base. The facility will treat 500,000 cubic meters of dioxin-contaminated soil and sediment.
The Bien Hoa decontamination project was launched in 2019. It is expected to cost up to $450 million and to take 10 years to complete. The United States has already allocated $163 million of the expected $300 million contribution.
According to Viet Nam News, in 1961-1971, the United States dumped on southern Vietnam some 80 million liters of herbicides, most of them Agent Orange, which contained over 360 kilograms of toxic chemical dioxin. The US-conducted chemical warfare destroyed over 3 million hectares of forest and affected 4.8 million people who were directly exposed to toxic chemicals.
