The Youth Volunteer Team 3 was established in 1999 in the Voi Valley area, in the communes of Chau Thai, Chau Dinh, and Van Loi of the mountainous district of Quy Hop. The Youth Volunteer Team 3 is tasked with implementing the project to develop a combined agricultural and forestry farm economic model in the Voi Valley area; receiving investment programs to exploit land funds to develop forestry, industrial and fruit tree planting; developing small-scale handicrafts to form a service processing cluster associated with the village and residential cluster; building the center of the Van Loi commune cluster (Quy Hop) in accordance with the investment project of the Provincial People's Committee.
At the time of establishment, the Youth Volunteer Force 3 had 121 cadres and team members, including 1 civil servant and 3 officials receiving salaries from the State budget; 3 medical staff under contract 58 receiving salaries from the State budget and 13 labor contracts paid by the Team; 101 team members participating in production.
After its establishment, the Youth Volunteer Force 3 manages and uses 5,694.3 hectares of land, including 3,133.5 hectares of protective forest land; 1,983.3 hectares of production land; 13.76 hectares of land for headquarters construction; 17 hectares of land for roads; 225.77 hectares of land contracted to 72 member households. In addition, there are more than 320 hectares of land that some households in Chau Dinh commune are cultivating in the planning area of the Force.
Present in Chau Dinh commune, we recorded many opinions and concerns of the cadres and members of the Youth Volunteer Team 3. Most of them were concerns related to the fact that the Youth Volunteer Team 3 had been approved for dissolution to be transferred to TH Raw Material Development Consulting Joint Stock Company for nearly 10 years but still could not be dissolved. This has caused many difficulties in land management, especially protective forest land. The workers and civil servants of the Youth Volunteer Team 3 have been scattered, each in a different place, while the land of the members' households has not been completely resolved.
Mr. Le Minh Tuan - former chief accountant of the Youth Volunteer Team 3, currently working on a seasonal contract here, shared: Before the decision to approve the dissolution plan in 2014 by the Provincial People's Committee, the unit had 7 staff and 13 labor contracts. After the decision to approve the dissolution plan was issued, 1 person was retired under the staff streamlining policy; 2 people were transferred to other public service units under the Provincial Youth Union; 3 people were transferred to work at the Quy Hop District Medical Center. Even the former Team Leader after retirement is also working on a seasonal contract to support the implementation of the task. Not to mention, 72 households of Youth Volunteer Team members who settled and started a business in the project area in 2019 have also been handed over to the Chau Dinh Commune People's Committee for management.
Because the officers and civil servants are all scattered, currently in order to maintain operations, the Youth Volunteer Force 3 is having to contract 12 people on a seasonal basis to protect the forest and manage the existing facilities and infrastructure.
“The fact that the team members are still producing on the land of the General Team but the people are under local management makes management difficult. Not to mention, the funding for forest protection from previous years until December 30, 2022 has not been received, but this year 2023 has not been provided. The worrying thing is that the funding to maintain and protect the infrastructure is not available, so once the infrastructure is degraded or damaged, such as roofs, pumps, and fire prevention and fighting equipment, it cannot be repaired. What we are most worried about is that in this hot season, 13 people are working very hard to protect a large area of forest,” Mr. Tuan sighed.
According to observations, along National Highway 48D, right at the intersection leading to the headquarters of the 3rd Youth Volunteer Corps, there are many families of team members living. Here, many spacious houses have been built but the residential land has not been granted a Certificate of Land Use Rights. This makes the team members feel like they are living in a temporary situation.
Visiting the family of Mr. Bui Van Hoang and Ms. Ha Thi Nhan, we learned that Mr. Hoang was from Dien Dong commune (Dien Chau). After participating in production here, he met Ms. Nhan, who was from Phu Thanh commune (Yen Thanh). After getting married, Mr. Hoang and Ms. Nhan were assigned about 1.5 hectares of forest land to grow tangerines and produce crops. In addition, the family also has about 500 m2Residential land. Although the land has been measured and extracted, up to this point, the land allocation to Mr. Hoang and Ms. Nhan's family has not been implemented. The residential land has not been granted a Land Use Rights Certificate, so when wanting to use it as collateral for a bank loan, it is not possible.
Mr. Hoang is worried, staying is “not possible” and leaving is “not possible” because he does not know how the land will be handled, and if he returns to his hometown, there will be no land to produce. Therefore, the family hopes to be allocated land for long-term production so that they can stabilize their lives.
Many documents have been issued regarding the dissolution of the 3rd Youth Volunteer Team. Specifically, on November 5, 2021, the Provincial People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 8569/UBND-KT on the implementation of the plan to dissolve the 3rd Youth Volunteer Team. The Provincial People's Committee assigned Nghe An Provincial Youth Union and the departments of Finance, Home Affairs, Natural Resources and Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development, Construction, Quy Hop District People's Committee and the 3rd Youth Volunteer Team based on their assigned functions and tasks to proactively coordinate and urgently carry out the next steps, completing the dissolution of the 3rd Youth Volunteer Team in 2021. However, up to this point, the dissolution has not been carried out.
Comrade Nguyen Dinh Thang - Commander of the Youth Volunteer Force Command of Nghe An province, concurrently Captain of the Youth Volunteer Force 3, said: Since 2023, the Youth Volunteer Force has not been assigned a working position by the Provincial People's Committee. Therefore, in order to carry out the task of protecting and developing the forest, we are having to re-contract with Comrade Le Quoc Thanh - Former Captain of the retired team as Head of the Forest Protection Board along with 11 previously signed contract workers.
We have also completed the inventory of assets on the land including: team members' houses; kindergartens; medical stations; security stations; 17 works (including: bridges, spillways; reservoirs; roads; commercial markets). We are currently preparing documents to request the Provincial People's Committee to agree to hand over to the locality for management and use.
In addition, the company has also coordinated with TH Raw Material Development Investment Joint Stock Company in Phu Quy area and Nghe An Forestry Planning Investigation Team to review the area of production forests and protection forests to advise the competent authority to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for withdrawal and transfer. In particular, for the area of 3,006.41 hectares of protection forests, because the capital for afforestation under the Forest Protection and Development Project for the period 2012 - 2020 of the General Team has not been settled, the handover has not been carried out. Currently, the Settlement Review Council of the Provincial People's Committee is reviewing the settlement of the Forest Protection and Development Project for the period 2012 - 2020 of the General Team.
For the area of 2,634.42 ha of production forest, we have also coordinated with TH Raw Material Development Investment Joint Stock Company in Phu Quy area and the Nghe An Provincial Land Registration Office to conduct a survey of 1,572.18 ha. For the area of 225.77 ha used by 72 families of team members, currently the Youth Volunteer Team 3 and the Nghe An Provincial Land Registration Office are also preparing a technical design and budget to submit to the Provincial People's Committee for approval to conduct a cadastral survey of the land.
“In the coming time, we also hope that the Provincial People's Committee will soon approve the policy of handing over the entire area of protective forest land and production forest land to local management. Currently, the plan to rearrange and handle houses and land of the 3rd Youth Volunteer Force has also been approved by the Provincial People's Committee on June 14, 2022; the plan to auction assets on land and transfer land use rights for the houses and land of the 3rd Youth Volunteer Force has also been submitted to the Department of Finance. If resolved soon, it will limit the difficulties and problems that arise" - The Commander of the Nghe An Provincial Youth Volunteer Force Command added.
On the local government side, Mr. Quan Vi Giang - Vice Chairman of Quy Hop District People's Committee said: Recently, the district has been coordinating with departments and Nghe An Provincial Youth Union to resolve issues related to the dissolution of the 3rd Youth Volunteer Team. The district's wish is that the Provincial People's Committee will soon make a decision to reclaim the land of the 3rd Youth Volunteer Team and hand it over to the locality for management so that the district can have a plan to rearrange the population and resolve related issues.
It is clear that nearly 10 years have passed since the plan to dissolve the Youth Volunteer Force 3 was approved, but the dissolution decision has not yet been issued, which is too long. This has led to many problems arising, even consequences that are very difficult to solve, such as the issue of forest protection, effective management of resources, prevention of land encroachment, and the rights, policies, and social security for the members. This requires the Provincial People's Committee to soon have a plan to completely handle it.