Who is condoning the company's destruction of the Len Chua quarry?

(Baonghean) - The situation of businesses arbitrarily exploiting resources and constructing illegal concrete mixing plants at the Len Chua quarry stems from the local authorities' lax role in state management.

There is collusion!

Over the past period, we have accessed numerous relevant documents from various levels and sectors, and through them, we have determined that businesses at the Len Chua quarry have shown disregard for legal regulations.

As evidence, in December 2016, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, along with related agencies, conducted a field inspection and discovered that Thanh Xuan Co., Ltd. and Xuan Hung Co., Ltd. were excavating to depths exceeding the permitted level, dozens of meters below the zero mark.

The concrete mixing plant of Xuan Hung Co., Ltd. is partially located outside the permitted operating area. Photo taken on August 28, 2017.

Prior to this violation, in February 2017, the Provincial People's Committee issued a decision to fine the two businesses 120 million VND each; simultaneously revoking their mining licenses for two months; and requiring them to fill in the areas, restore the environment, and implement solutions to bring the areas that had been mined beyond the permitted depth back to a safe state as regulated.

However, to this day, these two businesses have not seriously complied, and have even brazenly built a concrete mixing plant right in the Len Chua quarry area without permission from the competent state authorities.

Even more reprehensible, on August 18, 2017, during a field inspection, a joint inter-agency inspection team from the Departments of Natural Resources and Environment, Industry and Trade, and Construction, in coordination with the People's Committee of Hoang Mai Town and Quynh Xuan Ward, discovered that Xuan Chung Co., Ltd. was constructing several structures such as a single-story house, boundary walls, and foundation pillars for a concrete mixing plant. The inter-agency inspection team requested the People's Committee of Hoang Mai Town and the People's Committee of Quynh Xuan Ward to suspend the construction of the concrete mixing plant.

However, this company did not comply. And 10 days later (August 28, 2017), upon arriving at the Len Chua quarry, we witnessed that the concrete mixing plant, constructed by Xuan Chung Co., Ltd., was basically complete, with only the outer perimeter wall still under construction.

According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Hoang Mai Town, after the Provincial People's Committee issued decisions to penalize the aforementioned businesses, the Hoang Mai Town People's Committee issued numerous documents requiring these businesses to fully comply with the contents of the penalty decisions.

However, these businesses continue to violate regulations: continuing to mine stone below ground level, constructing illegal concrete mixing plants, etc. Looking at the documents, it's clear that the directives from the authorities in Hoang Mai town regarding the Len Chua quarry issue were adequate, but the enforcement was ineffective!

Businesses have been mining dozens of meters below the zero level for months now, but local authorities have taken no measures to stop or suspend the activity. Photo taken on August 28, 2017.

The Len Chua quarry is located about 1km from the Quynh Xuan Ward People's Committee, with convenient road access; however, when these businesses extracted stone exceeding the permitted depth by tens of meters, the Quynh Xuan Ward did not take any measures to stop them? Xuan Hung Co., Ltd. and Xuan Chung Co., Ltd. built and operated concrete mixing plants without permits, but the Quynh Xuan Ward also did not take any measures to suspend their operations. The businesses failed to comply with regulations on land reclamation and environmental restoration, but did not report this to higher authorities...

There's only one explanation: the cause of this situation is that local authorities are condoning the actions of these businesses!

Reviewing the responsibility of the head of Quynh Xuan ward.

On June 1, 2017, the Provincial People's Committee issued regulations on coordination in state management of mineral resources. Accordingly, the People's Committees at the district and commune levels are responsible for implementing state management of mineral exploitation activities in their respective areas in accordance with current regulations; handling violations, suspending operations, and requiring organizations and individuals engaged in mineral activities to remedy the consequences within their prescribed authority.

At the same time, they bear full responsibility before the Provincial People's Committee and before the law for any delay in handling, or failure to handle, violations by organizations and individuals engaging in mineral exploitation without completing land lease procedures, operating outside the boundaries of the permitted exploitation area; and for handling violations.

In comparison with the situation at the Len Chua quarry, it is clear that the local authorities in Hoang Mai town have not fulfilled their responsibilities in protecting unexploited mineral resources and preventing illegal mining and construction activities there.

Xuan Chung Co., Ltd. brazenly constructed a single-story house, boundary wall, and foundation pillars for a concrete mixing plant without permission from the competent authorities. Photo taken on August 28, 2017.

Furthermore, despite numerous documents issued by the provincial and Hoang Mai town authorities assigning responsibility to Quynh Xuan ward to monitor the site, record administrative violations, impose administrative penalties, and confiscate evidence and equipment in cases where Xuan Chung Co., Ltd. and Xuan Hung Co., Ltd. continue to violate regulations in their mining activities and fail to comply with directives from authorities, the effectiveness of these assigned tasks by the Quynh Xuan ward authorities has been limited.

Therefore, given the prolonged violations by businesses, the responsibility of the leaders of Quynh Xuan ward needs to be considered. Regarding this issue, according to Mr. Pham Van Hao, Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Hoang Mai Town, the Town People's Committee had previously issued a document criticizing the Chairman of the Quynh Xuan Ward People's Committee, Mr. Vu Van Tu, for failing to strictly comply with the directives of the Hoang Mai Town People's Committee.

"The People's Committee of Hoang Mai Town will take strong measures, not tolerate violations by businesses, and will also rectify local authorities to strictly implement state management..." - Mr. Hao affirmed.

To address this situation, in addition to requiring businesses to strictly comply with legal regulations, it is necessary to clarify responsibilities and seriously punish relevant organizations and individuals. In particular, it is essential to compare the legal provisions, as clearly outlined in the Regulations on Coordination in State Management of Mineral Resources, to clarify the responsibilities of local government leaders and impose strict penalties.

Ha Giang - Nguyen Hung