Violations and wrongdoings at the Lan Chau - Song Ngu Eco-tourism Complex, Resort Villas, Sports and Entertainment Project (Lan Chau - Song Ngu Project) invested by Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company were inspected and concluded by the People's Committee of Cua Lo Town in Notice No. 106/TB-UBND dated November 21, 2023; and reported to the Provincial People's Committee via Document No. 212/UBND-DT dated February 5, 2024. Accordingly, there are two types of violations and wrongdoings at the Lan Chau - Song Ngu project.
The first type is the construction items that have been constructed within the approved planning but do not have a construction permit, including: Swimming pool and relaxation yard with a total area of 1,288m22Not yet presented a construction permit; has a construction location that is in accordance with the planning but exceeds the construction boundary with an area of 201.5m22. Water pumping station project with total area of 20m2The construction permit has not been presented, and the location is not in accordance with the planning. The construction of the generator house and transformer station has a total area of 87.4m2.2Not yet presented a construction permit, the location is in accordance with the planning but the area is not in accordance with the planning. The water pumping station building has a total area of 20m22The building permit has not been presented, and the location is not in accordance with the planning. The office building is planned to be 3 stories high, with a construction area of 432m2.2However, this project has not been built yet, and is using an old project with an area of 247.3m2.22-storey high. The road leading to Lan Chau island is planned to be a stone road, about 120m long; in reality it is a concrete road, the roadbed and middle bunvar have just been constructed, the sidewalk has not been constructed yet.
The second type is construction items that have been constructed but are not included in the planning approved by competent authorities, including: Security guard house behind the hotel with an area of 6.5m22; Laundry room, warehouse, toilet with area of 6.5m2; The restaurant at the foot of Lan Chau island is 1-storey high with an area of 843.6m22; Elevator and ramp from the elevator to the restaurant on the island with an area of 23.8m2; Seafood tank behind the restaurant at the foot of Lan Chau island; Stairway to Lan Chau restaurant on the island (connecting from the road to the pier to the restaurant) is 63.7m wide2; Installing corrugated iron roof behind the hotel; The northern sea embankment of the project has a length of 256.1m, of which the area encroached on the sea compared to the planning is 3,071m2, average width of encroachment on the sea is about 17m.
In response to the above violations and violations, by Official Dispatch No. 1499/UBND-CN dated March 1, 2024, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the People's Committee of Cua Lo town to preside over and coordinate with relevant agencies and units to review and implement measures to handle violations according to regulations. At the same time, Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company is required to: "Strictly comply with measures to remedy the consequences of violations according to the inspection conclusion of the People's Committee of Cua Lo town; carry out procedures to adjust the investment certificate according to regulations after completing the remediation of violations at the project".
In order to carry out the assigned tasks, on March 15, 2024, the People's Committee of Cua Lo town organized a working session with the investor. However, on April 3, 2024, the People's Committee of Cua Lo town issued Document No. 511/UBND-DT to the Provincial People's Committee and related departments and branches, in which it reported: "After listening to the explanations of the specialized departments, the investor still did not agree to organize the correction of violations, and at the same time requested to keep the constructed items of the project intact. If forced to dismantle the above items, the investor requested to dismantle the 100m long overlapping sea dike item (invested by the Department of Tourism) built on the land of the Lan Chau - Song Ngu project".
Because Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company made a "request", also in Document No. 511/UBND-DT dated April 3, 2024, the People's Committee of Cua Lo town reported to the Provincial People's Committee about the sea embankment project invested by the Department of Tourism: "To implement the Cua Lo sea embankment project, on October 17, 2023, the Department of Tourism chaired a meeting with Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company, and Mr. Tran Quoc Lam - Chairman of the Board of Directors and Ms. Pham Thi Thanh Ha - General Director of the company agreed. Therefore, the Department of Tourism has implemented the construction of the sea embankment project, the walking street from M7 to M8 of the Lan Chau - Song Ngu Eco-tourism Complex of Villas, Resorts, Sports, and Entertainment".
According to the People's Committee of Cua Lo town, the Cua Lo sea embankment project includes a system of embankments from Lan Chau island to the embankment of the border guard port, a 5m wide walkway along the length of the embankment, and a number of cross-roads from Binh Minh street to the walkway. In which, the embankment and 5m wide walkway are built in accordance with the embankment and walkway that existed since the early days of the town's establishment. The investment objective of building the embankment and walking path system currently being implemented is to solidify the old, damaged and degraded embankment and walking path system, protect the park area and the eastern area of Cua Lo town from the erosion of sea waves during stormy days (including the Lan Chau - Song Ngu Eco-tourism Complex of Villas, Resorts, Sports, and Entertainment), and at the same time contribute to improving the quality of the town's tourism infrastructure, contributing to landscape embellishment and improving environmental sanitation conditions in the park and beach areas, thereby creating better conditions for tourists to access, creating favorable conditions for tourism development. Therefore, the People's Committee of Cua Lo town affirmed: "If the Department of Tourism does not carry out the construction of the above embankment section, Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company must also organize the implementation".
At the same time, based on the provisions of law stipulated in Decree 16/2022/ND-CP dated January 28, 2022 of the Government regulating administrative sanctions for construction violations, the People's Committee of Cua Lo town proposes that the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Construction issue a decision on administrative sanctions for construction items that have been constructed within the approved planning but do not have a construction permit. In addition, the investor is required to complete the application within 90 days from the date of issuance of the decision on administrative sanctions for violations to the competent authority to issue a construction permit or an adjusted construction permit. After the prescribed period, if the construction permit or an adjusted construction permit cannot be presented, the investor shall be required to demolish the violating construction work or part of the construction work; if the investor fails to comply, enforcement shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of law.
For construction items that have been constructed but are not included in the approved planning, a decision on administrative sanctions shall be issued and the remedial measure shall be applied, which is to force the demolition of the violating construction or part of the construction. If the investor fails to take the required demolition measures, the provisions of law shall apply.
Regarding the violations and wrongdoings at the Lan Chau - Song Ngu project, Nghe An Newspaper has mentioned in a number of articles. However, when accessing Document No. 511/UBND-DT dated April 3, 2024 of the People's Committee of Cua Lo town, we were forced to return to this content. Learning about the Cua Lo seawall project, it is known that, immediately after the Government issued Official Dispatch No. 52/2017/ND-CP dated April 28, 2017 on re-lending the Government's foreign loans to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities, the Provincial People's Committee organized a survey and submitted to the Government for permission to implement the project to upgrade coastal infrastructure from Lan Chau island to the embankment of the Border Guard port.
During this period, the Provincial People's Committee sent many documents to competent authorities, in which they dissected and analyzed the objectives and necessity of implementing the project. Specifically, in Document No. 5523/UBND.VX dated July 27, 2018 sent to relevant ministries and branches, the Provincial People's Committee reported that the implementation of the project "is really necessary to contribute to the completion of the general infrastructure system and infrastructure serving tourism development of Nghe An province". Proposing many goals that the project will achieve such as: "creating favorable conditions for access and expanding the tourism development space of Cua Lo town"; "enhancing the ability to adapt to the impacts of climate change, improving the environmental landscape, contributing to the effective exploitation and promotion of tourism resources, thereby promoting socio-economic development, increasing income for local people, contributing to hunger eradication and poverty reduction..."; “increase the attractiveness of tourist areas, thereby increasing the number of tourists visiting, prolonging their stay…”.
To clarify the meeting between the Department of Tourism and Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company in October 2023 as stated by the People's Committee of Cua Lo town in Document No. 511/UBND-DT dated April 3, 2024, we interviewed a number of relevant officials and confirmed the correct information. As Mr. Huynh Le Anh, an officer of the Planning Department - Department of Tourism, said: “The meeting on October 17, 2023 between the Department of Tourism and Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company had many participants, including representatives of departments and offices under the People's Committee of Cua Lo town. The meeting reached a consensus, specifically the leaders of Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company agreed to let the construction unit carry out the construction. After that, everyone went to inspect the site. During the construction process later, Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company's staff often came to supervise. Up to now, the related embankment section has been basically completed, and Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company also assessed that the newly built sea embankment is beautiful, increasing the aesthetics...".
We also studied the sea embankment line attached to the previous walking path, to compare with the newly built sea embankment line. Thereby, it was confirmed that after Cua Lo town was established, the sea embankment and walking path were also built. After many years of use, it has been degraded and damaged. The People's Committee of Cua Lo town has requested and received funding from the Provincial People's Committee to repair and reinforce it several times. Regarding the new sea embankment and walking path, it was designed and built in the same location as before; the section from marker M7 to marker M8 (the 100m long sea embankment section mentioned by Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company) becomes the border line between the park area east of Binh Minh Street and the coast and sea surface south of Lan Chau Island, belonging to the Lan Chau - Song Ngu project.
In fact, the newly built sea embankment with the newly built walking street has contributed to changing the appearance of Cua Lo beach, achieving the goals set by the Provincial People's Committee from 2017 - 2018; it is truly a useful public work, not affecting the Lan Chau - Song Ngu project and the interests of Song Ngu Son Joint Stock Company.
It must also be added that, leading to the existence of violations and mistakes in the Lan Chau - Song Ngu project, there is a part of the responsibility of the Party Committee and the government of Cua Lo town, especially some departments, offices, specialized units and the authorities of related wards; with the Department of Tourism, the process of surveying, designing and implementing the Cua Lo sea dike project, there were also shortcomings. Therefore, it is necessary to review the responsibilities of related organizations and individuals in accordance with legal regulations, not allowing the investor of the Lan Chau - Song Ngu project to use this as an excuse to avoid implementing remedial measures.
Because if you correct a mistake with a mistake, it will only make more mistakes!
