Owner of Suoi Choang Hydropower Project fined for land grabbing

Land transfer procedures not completed

On August 22, a leader of the People's Committee of Con Cuong district said that the locality had just fined the investor.Suoi Choang Hydropower Project30 million dong for land occupation.

Accordingly, although the project started construction 14 years ago, recently through review, the authorities discovered that the investor has not yet completed the land lease procedures as prescribed, this act is a violation of the law on land. After the relevant departments sent a written request, on August 16, 2023, the People's Committee of Con Cuong district issued a decision to impose an administrative fine of 30 million VND on MECO Power Investment and Development Joint Stock Company.

According to the penalty decision, the administrative violation of this company is land occupation (using land on the ground without completing the procedures for land allocation and land lease according to the provisions of law). Specifically, it has built a number of works such as dams, cooling houses, mixing stations, kitchens, and public houses with a total area of ​​over 4,200m2.².

Mitigating circumstances include that the violator has sincerely repented; actively helped the authorities detect and handle administrative violations. Regarding remedial measures, the investor of the Suoi Choang Hydropower Project was forced to continue with land allocation and land lease procedures according to regulations. At the same time, he must return the illegal profits from land appropriation of more than 4 million VND.

Clarify responsibilities

In addition, according to the reporter's investigation, in the planning approved by the People's Committee of Nghe An province in 2008, Suoi Choang hydropower plant was only approved with an installed capacity of 2.1 MW. However, in the Investment Registration Certificate, this project has an installed capacity of 4 MW. Currently, hydropower dam items are also under construction with a scale of 4 MW.

According to the leader of the Department of Planning and Investment, this unit reported and advised the Provincial People's Committee to grant the Investment Registration Certificate for the Suoi Choang Hydropower Project in 2009 based on the investor's proposal, capacity, and conditions for project implementation; legal documents and basic design appraisal opinions of the Department of Industry (now the Department of Industry and Trade). Specifically, in the announcement of the basic design appraisal results of the Nghe An Department of Industry dated April 17, 2008, it stated that "the installed capacity of 4MW of the project has been established in accordance with the small and medium hydropower planning approved by the Ministry of Industry (now the Ministry of Industry and Trade) in Decision No. 3454/QD-BCN dated October 18, 2005, the basic design ensures conditions for implementing the following tasks".

However, according to the reporter's investigation, the basis of Decision No. 3454/QD-BCN dated October 18, 2005 of the Ministry of Industry on approving the national small hydropower planning of the Department of Industry (now the Department of Industry and Trade) to appraise the basic design of the Suoi Choang Hydropower Project with an installed capacity of 4MW and to evaluate the basic design of the project that has been established in accordance with the planning is incorrect. The reason is that the appendix of the list of small hydropower projects in Nghe An province attached to Decision No. 3454/QD-BCN dated October 18, 2005 does not include the name of the Suoi Choang Hydropower Project. The policy to allow the establishment of an investment survey for the construction of the Suoi Choang Hydropower Project was not signed and issued by the Provincial People's Committee until 2007.

The Suoi Choang Hydropower Project is on the list of hydropower projects approved in Decision No. 155/QD-UBND.CN dated January 16, 2008 of the Provincial People's Committee on approving the planning of small and medium hydropower plants in Nghe An province, with an installed capacity of only 2.1MW. Then, on March 6, 2009, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued a document on adjusting the planning of small hydropower plants in Nghe An province, in which it agreed to let the Nghe An Provincial People's Committee consider and approve the adjustment of the planning of the Suoi Choang Hydropower Project, increasing the installed capacity to 4MW. However, up to now, the Provincial People's Committee has not issued a decision approving the adjustment of the project planning...

Regarding this issue, the Department of Industry and Trade has also sent a document to relevant departments, branches and the People's Committee of Con Cuong district to coordinate in clarifying the responsibilities of organizations and individuals.

"According to the report of the Department of Planning and Investment regarding the consultation on the issuance of the project investment certificate in 2009, the basis for advising the Provincial People's Committee to issue the investment certificate based on the basic design appraisal document of the Department of Industry (now the Department of Industry and Trade) without checking and reviewing the legal documents of the project planning is not legally strict. We request the Department of Planning and Investment to give its opinion on this issue and clarify the state management responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals in advising the Provincial People's Committee to issue the investment certificate for the project (if any)", the official dispatch of the Department of Industry and Trade stated.

This document also requests the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to clarify the state management responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals and the investor's violations in the land sector. Because currently the project has not completed the land lease procedures according to the provisions of law but has basically completed construction.

“The fact that the investor has not been granted land lease by the competent authority and has not yet received a document approving the planning adjustment but still organizes the project commencement is against the regulations. We request the People's Committee of Con Cuong district to coordinate with the People's Committee of Chau Khe commune to clarify the responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals regarding state management of construction investment projects and land management in the area under their management,” the official dispatch of the Department of Industry and Trade stated.

Previously,As Nghe An Newspaper reported,Suoi Choang Hydropower Project, which crosses the Khe Choang River, began construction in 2009. The investor is MECO Investment and Development Joint Stock Company. The project initially had a total investment of 74.5 billion VND, the approved installed capacity was 2.1 MW, and was expected to be completed in 2012, with an average annual electricity production of 14.2 million kWh. However, the project was then sluggishly constructed, even stalled for many years.

The Suoi Choang Hydropower Project was restarted at the end of 2017. However, from then until April 2021, the investor had to request three adjustments to the progress and total investment in the Investment Registration Certificate. In the last adjustment, the project doubled the total investment to VND 145 billion, while the average annual electricity production remained the same. Also in the last adjustment, the project implementation progress was extended to August 2022 to operate and generate electricity to the national grid. However, it has been a full year late compared to the last extension, but the project has not yet been able to operate. Recently, the investor of Suoi Choang Hydropower continued to submit a request for project adjustment, in which he requested to adjust the project implementation progress to "operate and generate electricity to the national grid in June 2024".