Illegal sand and gravel mining in Nghe An: Why is it difficult to inspect and monitor?
(Baonghean.vn) - For a sand and gravel mine to be licensed, it must undergo thorough investigation, design and approval procedures by the authorities; the mining process must be closely monitored and managed. However, the reality of sand and gravel mining in Nghe An is revealing many shortcomings, causing unpredictable consequences.
Alarming situation
In 2020, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the inspection and supervision activities of provincial authorities on sand and gravel mining activities in the province were relaxed. However, due to the increasing demand for sand and gravel, especially in the midland and mountainous districts, the activitiessand and gravel miningstill quite busy. To meet market demand, on the one hand, mines still maintain exploitation according to licenses; on the other hand, they also take advantage of collecting and exploiting sand and gravel sources...
 |
| Checking sand and gravel mining activities on Lam River through Thanh Chuong district. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
In Thanh Chuong district, Mr. Trinh Van Bang - Head of the district's Department of Natural Resources and Environment said: Up to this point, the district only has 7 sand and gravel mines licensed by the province and the district does not have any mining sites. The district has been actively launchingHandling illegal sand miningand illegal exploitation. Since the beginning of the year, the district has punished 1 case and temporarily suspended 1 case, the commune level has handled more.
 |
| Although inspections are still being maintained, sand and gravel mining activities in Thanh Chuong district are still quite complicated. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Managing and supervising sand and gravel mining activities is difficult because “where there is demand, there is supply”. If too few licenses are issued, sand will be scarce, leading to an increase in illegal and bandit mining. On the contrary, if licenses are issued but not monitored, establishments will take advantage of the licenses to collect or legalize illegally mined sand and gravel for sale. If this activity is not regulated, it will not only harm the environment but also waste resources because the selling price is too cheap.
Tan Ky district is one of the key areas for sand and gravel mining in the province; the whole district has 16 mines licensed by the Provincial People's Committee and more than a dozen mining sites under the district's management authority.
Preliminary calculation, the capacity of each mine assigned to exploit is about 20 thousand m3 of sand and gravel, so each year Tan Ky district has millions of m33Sand and gravel are dredged from the river and sold. Since the beginning of the year, the district has discovered three cases of illegal mining.
Excessive sand and gravel exploitation has caused the inter-commune and inter-district road system (Tan Ky to Thanh Chuong) to deteriorate very quickly. On the road from the town to the communes of Tien Ky, Nghia Dong or Tan Xuan, it is not difficult to see the phenomenon of trucks carrying dozens of tons of sand and gravel passing by, while the bridge and road are only designed to withstand a load of about 10 tons.
Meanwhile, in Do Luong district, although 8 mines have been licensed, as soon as the authorities or local authorities are lax, illegal mining will recur. The situation is so complicated that a member of the district inspection team complained: There is a lack of inspection equipment and personnel, so we cannot be on duty on the river. Not only that, this section of the river borders Anh Son district, so even if we see ships docked there, we need to check where the sand is being mined, and if the ships move to the licensed area, we cannot handle it.
 |
| Construction of embankment section through hamlet 5A, Boi Son commune. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Although the exploitation of sand and gravel along the Lam River above Bara Do Luong has not had any direct consequences, landslides in the upper areas of Nam Son or Boi Son communes have occurred. In hamlet 5, Boi Son commune, the hamlet used to have an alluvial production area of over 3 hectares of land along the Lam River, but due to changes in the flow and sand exploitation, this sandbank has gradually become smaller and recently, the flow has been directed into the village, forcing the district to petition the province to build an emergency embankment.
What to do to check and monitor?
According to the plan, the whole province currently has nearly 120 sand and gravel mines, of which, through the inspection at the end of 2019, it was determined that only nearly half were licensed for mining and legal ports, the rest were incomplete or illegally exploited. According to some managers, although the licensing of sand and gravel mining in the area is carried out according to the plan, the fact that the whole province has more than 120 mines, of which Tan Ky has 16 mines, Thanh Chuong has 7 mines, Do Luong has 8 mines is too much, so it should be reviewed to reduce it to about half.
Through our research, we learned that in order for a sand and gravel mine to be granted a mining license, businesses must complete many procedures and incur costs to maintain mining operations. Currently, the tax rate on sand and gravel prices is also high compared to the actual selling price, so there are a number of businesses in Tan Ky and Do Luong districts that, although licensed, cannot operate and have to sell to other businesses. It is worth mentioning that the rest, in order to survive, instead of exploiting according to the license to maintain long-term sand and gravel resources, use the amount of exploitation to compensate, leading to a great waste of resources.
 |
| Sand and gravel gathering and exploitation point at the foot of Ru Nguoc. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
An official from Tan Ky district once shared his concerns with us: In reality, businesses consider licenses as just a cover to legalize the amount of illegally mined sand and gravel. With large capacity sand suction and mining equipment, just start the machine and sand and gravel will automatically be brought from the riverbed through the water hoses to the collection dock, making it very difficult to detect where the sand is actually mined on the river.
According to a member of the inspection team, in reality, there are still many illegal mining cases that the team has not discovered. Therefore, in the inspection conclusion, the interdisciplinary team proposed that the province strengthen supervision and management of sand and gravel mining activities using invoices. Accordingly, each licensed sand mine must have an inland waterway port and carry out procedures to rent land for a sand port. During the inspection, if the sand and gravel sales invoice exceeds the license, there must be a legitimate reason, otherwise, the tax will be collected or the sand will be confiscated and auctioned for sale.
In 2019, the province and district continuously inspected and rectified, so in 2020, the issuance of new sand and gravel mines was also limited and switched to a bidding mechanism for mining rights. Along with continuing to inspect and handle violations, the districts are urging the mines to complete land lease procedures and reviewing to complete inland waterway port procedures for the mines.
 |
| Sand mining in Nghia Dong, Tan Ky. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
Based on the conclusions and recommendations of the provincial interdisciplinary inspection team, in 2020, the province is urging establishments to rent land for sand wharfs and install surveillance cameras. However, this is only a technical solution; in the long term, to be effective, this camera system must be connected to the center of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment or the Environmental Police Department, Provincial Police for monitoring and supervision. In addition, based on people's reports, it is necessary to increase the presence of functional forces at key sand and gravel mining sites, and at the same time strengthen supervision at mine gates, sand wharfs and on traffic routes to be effective.
