In mid-May, Nghe An Newspaper received information that on Khe Tro hill (Thanh An commune, Thanh Chuong district), there was a situation of illegal construction of a chain of motels, violating the planning of the Tea Island Tourist Area project. On May 17, following the guide up the Ho Chi Minh road, stopping at Cau Cau lake dam. Here, on the dam, the guide pointed to a hill area with rows of green trees interspersed with some white spots, saying: "On the other side of the lake is Khe Tro hill area, a chain of illegal constructions there. The consecutive white spots are a chain of motels. If you go in, go by boat, it only takes about ten minutes to get there...".
Thanks to a boat, with only 50,000 VND and about 15 minutes, we reached Khe Tro hill. Here, a series of illegal constructions were scattered over a hilly area of several hectares. Right at the foot of the hill, close to the water surface of Cau Cau lake, there was a guest house built of bricks, roofed with thatch, and decorated quite elegantly. Connecting to the guest house was a walking path along the lake, neatly paved with gray-white stones on a smooth green carpet; on both sides of the road, there were orchards and apricot bushes...
Stopping by the guesthouse to ask, the elderly manager said that the house here rents out a closed motel for 800,000 VND/house/day and night. Regarding food and drink, guests can take care of it themselves, or book in advance so that he can ask the locals to supply it according to their needs. Guests staying here can rent a boat to visit the tea hills, or can row the soup boat available at the motel... "I've only been here for 2 weeks, but there have been a few groups of guests staying here. Here, in addition to motel services, we also serve drinks, mobile karaoke, soup boats... As for food, if there is a need, we will contact the locals to serve. Thanh Chuong specialties such as hill chicken, pickled vegetables, fruits... are all available" - the elderly manager happily said.
Asking permission from the manager to visit the homestay, the most impressive thing in the chain of projects is the chain of 5 independent guesthouses. These houses have a usable area of about 40m22, assembled from wood, plastic, aluminum, glass... placed on a series of reinforced concrete piles. The house has a rather unique design, with light-colored roofing and wall cladding materials, so it stands out against the green background of the grass carpet and acacia forest. In each house, following the slope, a separate, quite elaborate, winding and beautifully paved entrance is created. The house is fully equipped with amenities, with solar-powered air conditioners. Roughly estimated, there are 5 motels here that have been completed and put into use, in addition, there are 3 more houses being installed on the top of Khe Tro hill.
Along with the independent houses, this homestay area also has a number of houses, a system of ornamental plants, and a solar energy collection system. At the same time, in the hill area, a number of walking paths have been formed, with a smooth grass surface; forming a flat surface for tourists to organize camping, playing, and eating outdoors. At the same time, there is quite a lot of land area with new fruit trees, timber trees, etc. Overall, this is a project with quite a lot of investment, suitable for tourism business in the Tea Island area.
According to the relevant documents we have collected, since July 2022, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district has discovered illegal construction works on Khe Tro hill, Thanh An commune. And up to now, it has directed the organization to inspect twice.
In the first inspection, conducted on July 14, 2022. After the inspection, on July 15, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee issued Document No. 1489 /UBND-TNMT to the Chairman of Thanh An Commune People's Committee. Here, the Thanh Chuong District People's Committee received information that in the forestry land area adjacent to Cau Cau Lake, Thanh An Commune, there was a violation of land law (construction of works on forestry land); the district assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to work directly with Thanh An Commune People's Committee and conduct specific inspections. Through inspection, at this time, on Khe Tro hill, there were 5 illegally built huts on production forest land; the violator was Mr. NSHG, residing in Vinh city. This violation was discovered and inspected by Thanh An Commune People's Committee from June 11, 2022. However, the commune did not resolutely prevent and handle it promptly, leading to the violator completing 5 huts and putting them into use.
Also in Document No. 1489 /UBND-TNMT, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee commented:"Criticize the Chairman of Thanh An Commune People's Committee for not being resolute and not taking timely measures to prevent and handle the above violations according to regulations.
The Chairman of Thanh An Commune People's Committee shall continue to inspect, take measures to prevent and handle the above-mentioned violations according to the provisions of law; absolutely not allowing violators to continue to commit violations. In particular, the Commune People's Committee shall focus on working with violators to propagate, mobilize, and explain to violators to clearly understand the provisions of the law and voluntarily dismantle, clear the violating constructions, and restore the land to the state before the violation. If the violators do not comply, measures shall be taken to resolutely and completely handle the above-mentioned violations according to the provisions of law.
The People's Committee of Thanh An commune is assigned to organize a serious review to clarify the responsibilities of the collective and individuals involved in allowing the above violations to occur but not resolutely preventing and promptly handling them according to regulations.
On February 13, 2023, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee issued Decision No. 308/QD-UBND to establish an interdisciplinary inspection team to inspect and handle the case of illegal construction on Khe Tro hill. The results of the field inspection of the inspection team showed that at this time, Khe Tro hill had a total of 12 illegal constructions on the production forest land area. Specifically, including: 1 house built with brick walls and thatched roof with an area of 92.6m221 house with brick walls and thatched roof, area 32.8m22; 3 systems of thatched roofing tube pile frames (total area over 30m2)2); 2 solar power collection systems (total area of over 46m2); 5 stilt houses with iron, steel, glass, wood, and plastic frames built on reinforced concrete piles (each house has an area of 37 to approximately 40m2)2).
Based on the provisions of law, the Inspection Team concluded that Mr. NSHG's construction of works for non-agricultural purposes in forestry is an administrative violation in the land sector. Specifically, "he arbitrarily converted production forest land from planted forest to non-agricultural land without permission from a competent state agency. As stipulated in Point a, Clause 2, Article 10, Decree No. 91/2019/ND-CP dated November 19, 2019 of the Government regulating sanctions for administrative violations in the land sector".
At the same time, the Inspection Team also concluded: "For the case of NSHG citizens arbitrarily constructing illegal structures on forestry land in Khe Tro, Thanh An commune, the responsibility belongs to the People's Committee of the commune, the Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune and the cadastral officials of Thanh An commune, for not properly implementing the provisions of Clause 2, Article 208 of the Land Law, specifically: Not applying measures to prevent and promptly handle the construction of structures on land used for the wrong purpose in the locality".
After the trip back to Thanh An commune, the case of illegal homestay construction on Khe Tro hill was reported by Nghe An electronic newspaper on May 20 and 24 in the articles "Considering collective and individual responsibilities for land violations in Thanh An commune (Thanh Chuong); "What is in the homestay area that was 'whistled' on Thanh An Tea Island?".
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Que - Standing Deputy Secretary of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee, the incident in Thanh An commune is an issue that the District Party Committee is concerned about and closely monitors.
According to Document No. 1062/UBND-TNMT dated May 25 of the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district sent to the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee, the case of illegal construction of a homestay project in the Dao Che area, Thanh An commune was concluded by the People's Committee of the district based on the inspection results of the Interdisciplinary Inspection Team (Conclusion No. 04/KL-UBND dated April 20, 2023). The People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district affirmed that the violator, Mr. NSHG, had arbitrarily changed the purpose of use from production forest land, which is planted forest, to non-agricultural land in the Khe Tro hill area, Thanh An commune without permission from the competent state agency. For this violation to occur, the responsibility belongs to the People's Committee and the Chairman of the People's Committee of Thanh An commune for not applying preventive measures and not promptly handling the construction of projects on land used for the wrong purpose in the locality. The cadastral officials of Thanh An commune were not timely in advising on handling the violation thoroughly and in accordance with the law.
Thanh Chuong District People's Committee requests Thanh An Commune People's Committee to review and clarify the responsibilities of collectives and individuals related to the above-mentioned shortcomings and violations in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 19/2020/ND-CP dated February 12, 2020 on inspection and disciplinary action in the enforcement of laws on handling administrative violations. Request Thanh An Commune People's Committee to base on the provisions of Point b, Clause 1, Article 13, Decree 118/2021/ND-CP dated December 23, 2021 of the Government to cancel Decision No. 325/QD-XPHC dated June 14, 2022 on sanctioning administrative violations in the field of land against Mr. NSHG; At the same time, inspect, review, complete and transfer the entire dossier of handling administrative violations against Mr. NSHG to the District People's Committee for consideration and handling in accordance with regulations.
In addition, the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district assigned the Department of Home Affairs to advise the People's Committee of the district to handle the responsibility of the relevant collectives and individuals for the above-mentioned violations according to regulations; assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to coordinate with the Department of Justice to handle the administrative violations against Mr. NSHG in accordance with the provisions of law.
Asked about the Standing Deputy Secretary of Thanh Chuong District Party Committee about the direction of the District Party Committee, he said: “The viewpoint of the Standing District Party Committee is to direct the District People's Committee to properly implement the provisions of the law. It must be done strictly…”.
On May 19, 2023, the Provincial People's Committee issued Document No. 3825/UBND-CN on strengthening leadership and direction of state management in a number of fields of land, bidding, construction investment, etc. According to the Provincial People's Committee, in these fields, in some places, there is still a situation of not strictly implementing the provisions of the law, some cases are being prosecuted criminally. The main reason is that the heads of Party committees, authorities of some localities, and functional agencies have not been really close and determined in leadership and direction; state management in some places is still loose and loopholes; inspection and supervision work is not regular and effective, etc.
The Provincial People's Committee directed: "Provincial departments, branches, sectors, People's Committees of districts, cities, and towns focus on directing, reviewing, rectifying, and strengthening state management of land, bidding, construction investment..."; "Promptly review, verify, and clarify information reflecting and recommending violations in bidding activities; in project management of investors; in the process of land allocation, leasing, allowing transfer of land use rights, allowing change of land use purpose...".
Feeling concerned, because this is a content that is always reminded, focused on promoting, but in reality there are still many shortcomings, limitations, and violations. In addition to the homestay on Khe Tro hill, we can name a series of "famous" cases that have received public attention, such as violations inHigh-tech Israeli tilapia farming projectin Hung My commune (Hung Nguyen); a chain of housing projects combined with homestay in Muong Long (Ky Son)...
Obviously, for this situation to occur, it is necessary to recognize that the greatest responsibility belongs to the heads of local Party committees and authorities as the Provincial People's Committee has pointed out in Document No. 3825/UBND-CN. In addition to handling organizations and individuals who commit violations in accordance with the law, it is necessary to strictly handle the responsibilities of the heads of local Party committees and authorities. Only then can we hope that new violations will not appear!