Mai Ai Truc, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment said the online question forum was scheduled to finish at 4:30pm but had to be prolonged to handle the immense amount of questions.
“Questions not answered in the forum will be assigned to officials in specific departments to be answered, even if having to work at weekends”, said Truc, recognizing the effectiveness of the forum.
Truc said in the future, the ministry wants to hold regular forums with same-day responses.
With the massive response – though answers from the ministry are not legally binding – show the public is hungry for more knowledge on environmental issues that directly affect them, like companies that emit environmental pollution.
Queries included everything from land prices, land clearance, land use certificates and complaints against officials, to questions on minerals and consumable water.
Some questions on motorway construction land clearance were too specific, and should be dealt with at the local level, Truc said.
In the past, the ministry even sent leaders and investigation teams to communes and wards in all 64 provinces to collect ideas from residents to prepare the Land Law, which went into effect in July 2005.
Over all, Truc said the ministry is not afraid of its critics in handling environmental issues, but needs the public to be more proactive in informing the ministry of arising difficulties.
The success of the online forum was good experience for the ministry in its quest to effectively utilize e-government to improve governance.
Autor: Reported by Tuyết Nhung – Translated by Thanh Tuan
Quelle: Thanh Nien Daily, 17.03.2006
