Restore order in sand and gravel mining on rivers and estuaries

(Baonghean.vn) - On the afternoon of October 27, the Government held an online conference on preventing violations of the law in sand and gravel mining activities on rivers and estuaries.

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Phuc - Member of the Politburo, Deputy Prime Minister, Head of Steering Committee 138 chaired the conference. Attending were Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai; representatives of ministries, branches, central agencies and 63 connecting points in provinces and cities across the country.

Nghe An bridgehead was chaired by comrade Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee with the participation of representatives of relevant departments and branches.

Conference overview

According to the assessment of Steering Committee 138/CP, in recent times, the work of preventing and combating law violations in sand and gravel mining activities on rivers and estuaries with the active participation of functional forces of ministries, branches, central and local levels has curbed violations, gradually resolving the situation of sand and gravel mining, transportation and trading on rivers and estuaries. The work of inspection, examination and handling of violations in the field of sand and gravel mining on rivers of provinces and cities has been strengthened.

According to reports from 20 provinces and cities, in the 4 years of implementing Directive No. 29 of the Prime Minister, localities have detected and handled 1,892 violations in sand and gravel mining on rivers, with fines of VND 16 billion. The police force has detected and recorded administrative violations of 85,084 cases, warned 3,328 cases, fined 83,248 cases, and collected nearly VND 122 billion. At the same time, a special project was established, investigated, and discovered 22 criminal cases with 65 subjects related to illegal sand and gravel mining and trading activities... Thanks to that, it has made an important contribution to the implementation of legal provisions and directives of the Prime Minister on mineral resources management and environmental protection.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested to clarify the responsibilities of all levels, sectors and localities for violations of the law in sand and gravel mining activities on rivers and estuaries.

However, the situation of law violations in the exploitation, business and transportation of sand and gravel on rivers and estuaries is still very complicated, not yet thoroughly handled, especially in areas bordering administrative boundaries on rivers or where the boundaries between localities are not clearly defined. Especially due to the large profits, the subjects organizing exploitation and business in this field have many methods to deal with the functional forces such as: exploiting at night or near dawn, organizing vigilance to notify each other to avoid inspection by the functional agencies, exploiting outside the licensed scope, exceeding the licensed capacity; colluding with a number of state officials and civil servants, having acts of obstruction, fiercely resisting when being inspected and arrested... In the first 6 months of 2015 alone, the waterway police force discovered and punished 386 cases of violations, collecting more than 5 billion VND for the budget.

Senior Lieutenant General Dang Van Hieu - Permanent Deputy Minister of Public Security reported on the work of preventing and combating law violations in sand and gravel mining activities on rivers and estuaries.

Currently, some units licensed to carry out dredging projects on inland waterways and shipping channels combined with sand exploitation have signs of taking advantage of sand exploitation licenses outside the area, dredging shipping channels deep into waterways, inland ports... causing negative impacts on the environment, landslides, erosion, threatening the safety of river and sea dikes. State management in sand and gravel exploration and exploitation activities still has many shortcomings, especially in assessing mineral reserves and quality, coordination between state agencies and functional forces in inspection, examination, and crime prevention in this field...

Panoramic view of Nghe An bridgehead

In Nghe An alone, in recent times, authorities at all levels have paid attention, directed and had many solutions in the work of preventing and combating violations of the law in sand and gravel mining activities on rivers and estuaries. The whole province has 62 licensed and explored areas, of which 41 are licensed for exploitation. In the first 10 months of 2015, the whole province handled 112 violations in sand and gravel mining and trading, imposed fines of 1.2 billion VND, and seized 17 boats and ferries. However, due to the high demand for construction materials, the development of sand and gravel mining activities is still complicated.

Comrade Dinh Viet Hong - Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee spoke at the conference

Speaking at the conference, on behalf of the Provincial People's Committee, comrade Dinh Viet Hong expressed Nghe An's determination to effectively manage the exploitation of mineral sand in general and gravel exploitation on rivers and estuaries in particular to stabilize security and order and develop socio-economy.

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested to clarify the causes and responsibilities; seriously review and strengthen supervision of all levels, sectors and localities to prevent violations of the law in sand and gravel mining activities on rivers and estuaries. Correct and improve the capacity, qualifications and moral qualities of officials of state management agencies and public service agencies related to the field of mineral resources. Strictly handle cases of law violations in this field. From there, propose drastic and synchronous solutions to restore order in sand and gravel mining on rivers and estuaries.

Khanh Ly