Provinces left to face the music

Vietnam is determined to protect its precious land resources

The Government Inspectorate has recommended that the government ask the chairmen of Binh Thuan, Thua Thien-Hue and Quang Nam provinces to punish individuals and agencies for lax management of and misuse of land.

The inspectorate’s land use effectiveness inspection results of Binh Thuan showed that 340 hectares of tourism projects overlapped with natural mineral exploitation projects.

For example, the Cham Tower Cultural Village project overlapped with the Cham Tower Cultural Site.

The Ham Thuan Nam villa and golf course project overlapped with the rock garden expansion project and Tan Phu sea-ecological tourism project.

Another 48.36ha was overlapped by many projects to build cultural villages, golf courses and sea-ecological tourism areas. Over 25.3 licenced hectares overlapped with 79 Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment projects to explore and exploit black sand, an important material used for titanium manufacturing.

The inspectorate also found that 40 projects covering 2,100ha were granted investment licences by Binh Thuan People’s Committee, while the projects did not plan to use such land.

Besides, 35 of 59 projects in the province were found to be using 65 per cent of the state’s land, without any auction.

In Thua Thien-Hue province, the inspectorate uncovered the province’s violations in shifting over 3,200ha of protection forests under a Japan Bank for International Cooperation-backed (JBIC) protection forest plantation project into production ones.

Furthermore, 127 of 269 enterprises in the province were found to use the state’s land without any inked land lease contract. Some 133 enterprise-owed land lease payment of around $650,000.

The inspectorate also made clear the Thua Thien-Hue authorities’ violations in giving land, protection forests and land in natural conservation zones to enterprises for natural mineral exploitation. The violations were also found in granting two investment licences to two golf course investors without any planning of such projects, and in granting 300 hectares of land to 12 investors, who failed to implement their projects in time. Besides, the violations were also found in the authorities’ provision of reduction and exemption of land lease fees not subject to the state’s regulations, for many projects.

Quang Nam province was investigated by the inspectorate in terms of mis-giving land lease fee reduction and exemption to seven projects at the Dien Nam-Dien Ngoc Industrial Park, and Phuoc Trach and Phuoc Hai urban areas. This caused losses of nearly $1.5 million.

Quang Nam also violated the law when lending sites to Phan Chau Trinh University, which caused a loss of nearly $450,000 and allowing Truong Hai Automobile Company to construct works without permission, land lease contracts, while exempting all land lease fee for this company.

Moreover, this province failed to claim land lease fees of $1.45 million from 198 enterprises, $1.8 million from three enterprises at Bo Mung Industrial Park and $5.4 million from four units based at the Dien Nam-Dien Ngoc Industrial Park. Quang Nam also allowed 224 units to use the state’s land without land lease contracts.

The inspectorate also asked the government to allow it to combine with the Ministry of Finance to inspect the misuse of land at Thua Thien-Hue’s Tan My-Thuan An resort, and Dong Duong and Thuan Hoa hotels. The inspectorate also proposed the government to ask the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to revise the implementation of the JBIC and World Bank 3 projects.