Why is it difficult to handle?

An Giang province's functional sector said that up to now, there is no data related to illegal land exploitation by An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company, except for the data provided by this enterprise, so there is not enough legal basis for handling.

Should state-owned enterprises be given preferential treatment?

On the morning of December 20, Mr. Ngo Cong Thuc, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of An Giang province, together with leaders of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the province, had a working session with the press on the results of the review and inspection of the illegal exploitation of land for brick and tile production by An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company.

Leaders of An Giang Provincial People's Committee worked and provided information to representatives of Giao Thong Newspaper (left cover) and press agencies about the inspection of illegal land exploitation by An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company.

At the beginning of the working session, Mr. Ngo Cong Thuc said that in the spirit of respecting the law, the Standing Committee of An Giang Provincial People's Committee has directed the relevant agencies to review more than 40 public investment projects in the area regarding compliance with the law. Among them, there are 3 clay mine projects that have not been approved by the Provincial People's Committee but have been illegally exploited by An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company for a long time.

According to the exploration results report in the above 3 areas approved by the Provincial People's Committee under Decision No. 2791/QD-UBND dated December 1, 2020, the mine area in Tri Ton town, Tri Ton district has a reserve of 878,367m3, Decision No. 2792/QD-UBND dated December 1, 2020, the mine area in An Phu town, An Phu district has a reserve of 513,281m3 and Decision No. 2793/QD-UBND dated December 1, 2020, the mine area in Binh Duc ward, Long Xuyen city has a reserve of 434,681m3.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Xuan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company, said that the company has 3 brick and tile factories located in Long Xuyen City, Tri Ton District and An Phu District. Of which, the mine area in Tri Ton Town has an area of ​​9.82 hectares; the mine area in Binh Duc Ward, Long Xuyen City has an area of ​​9.6 hectares and the mine area in An Phu Town, An Phu District has an area of ​​9.32 hectares.

Mr. Ngo Cong Thuc, Vice Chairman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee, said that all businesses in An Giang must respect the law. They will inspect and review all issues of An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company, and any violations will be strictly handled.

According to Mr. Xuan, this is land that the company bought from people's fields, not yet transferred to the company's name, some land plots have been transferred to the representative of Tunnel Brick and Tile Factory. The remaining land plots only have notarized contracts and the company is holding the original land use right certificate.

Mr. Vo Hung Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of An Giang province, said that the above-mentioned mining areas of An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company had been surveyed and assessed for clay reserves by the enterprise. After that, the enterprise completed procedures to send to the provincial authorities to request approval for the mining license.

"The Department of Natural Resources and Environment has proposed that the An Giang Provincial People's Committee not yet approve the mine because the land use planning and mineral mine planning are not clear. If in the near future, the mineral mine planning is clear and suitable, we will propose to grant the license to the enterprise," said Mr. Dung.

The clay mine area in Binh Duc ward, Long Xuyen city, An Giang province has an area of ​​9.6 hectares, with an exploration reserve of 434,681m3. It has not been licensed but An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company has been exploiting it for many years.

However, the representative of Giao Thong Newspaper asked that, according to the plan to approve raw materials for construction material production approved by the People's Committee of An Giang province in 2021, not to use agricultural land as raw materials for brick production, is the request for granting mines in the above 3 areas of An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company in accordance with regulations?

Some other questions were also raised by reporters about the compliance with legal regulations on project implementation by An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company; is it because it is a state-owned enterprise that it is favored, does not need to follow legal procedures, and can the enterprise "put the cart before the horse"?

However, all of the above questions were not answered by An Giang province authorities.

Will be handled in the spirit of the rule of law

The representative of Giao Thong Newspaper continued to question the State management responsibility of local authorities and functional sectors when allowing illegal land exploitation to continue for a long time; how to assess the environmental impact, and how to handle and remedy the illegal land exploitation areas?

And the current status of the mining area in Binh Duc ward, Long Xuyen city has not been licensed but has been exploited to remove many large lakes right behind the Long Xuyen Tunnel Brick and Tile Factory.

Mr. Vo Hung Dung said that after the Provincial People's Committee directed the establishment of an Inspection Team, through working with the An Phu District People's Committee, he found that there were still some issues that needed to be clarified. In particular, the data in the report of the An Phu District People's Committee were all provided by An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company, and no unit had organized the measurement.

"Therefore, I have reported to the Provincial People's Committee to have a plan to hire a consulting unit to measure the exploited area to have data to compare with the enterprise's data. In the future, we have to measure all three areas of Tri Ton district, An Phu district and Long Xuyen city to be able to come up with a solution and assign responsibility. Currently, relying only on the enterprise's data is not enough legal basis for handling," Mr. Dung explained.

Mr. Ngo Cong Thuc said that he is having the Department of Planning and Investment, the Department of Finance, and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment review all legal procedures in implementing policies and granting investment licenses.

"In the spirit of the direction of the Standing Committee of An Giang Provincial People's Committee, all enterprises in the province must respect the law, without exception. After reviewing and checking, if there are any violations, they will be handled accordingly," affirmed the Vice Chairman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee.

An Giang Construction Joint Stock Company has a charter capital of VND 287,228 million, of which: state-owned capital is VND 271,372 million (accounting for 94.48% of charter capital); capital owned by other shareholders is VND 15,856 million (accounting for 5.52% of charter capital).

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/vu-khai-thac-dat-trai-phep-875000m3-dat-o-an-giang-vi-sao-kho-xu-ly-192241220141646454.htm