Up to this point, many people in Hoang Mai town have assessed the project of the Civil Wood Processing and Export Factory as a project with “elephant head, mouse tail”; and the investor, Dong Hoi Development Company Limited, is “three elephants cannot be stirred up by water”…
The project of investing in a wood processing factory for civil use and export was "born" on March 2, 2016, when Dong Hoi Development Company Limited (located in Tan Minh hamlet, Quynh Lap commune, Hoang Mai town) was granted the Investment Registration Certificate No. 2037241126 by the Management Board of the Southeast Economic Zone. The project's objectives are clearly stated on the certificate: production of wood panels for civil use and export; production of Wood Pellets for export; production and preliminary processing of wood and wood products. Regarding the scale of the project, it will produce 80,000m3/year of civil and export wood panels; production of 40,000 tons/year of export Wood Pellets; preliminary processing of 40,000 tons/year of wood.
The project is located at Dong Hoi Industrial Park, Quynh Lap Commune, Hoang Mai Town, on an area of 2 hectares; the North, South, and West are adjacent to green landscape land and high hills, the East is adjacent to National Highway 48D. The project implementation period is 50 years from the date Dong Hoi Development Company Limited is granted the Investment Certificate. Regarding the project implementation progress, in the first quarter of 2016, construction and equipment procurement of items will be implemented; in the second quarter of 2016, the project will be put into operation.
On April 20, 2016, Dong Hoi Development Company Limited was approved by the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board for the master plan of the 1/500 scale for the investment project of the civil and export wood processing factory (Decision No. 82/QD-KKT); on June 28, 2016, the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board approved the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (Decision No. 156/QD-KKT). Looking at the documents related to these two decisions, the civil and export wood processing factory project of Dong Hoi Development Company Limited is a potential project with a "bright" future for Dong Hoi Industrial Park and the young urban area of Hoang Mai.
Specifically, Dong Hoi Development Company Limited described the project as follows: “… Hoang Mai town has abundant human resources, a fairly high level of education, diverse and rich natural resources, notably land, labor, forestry, raw materials for wood production and some other minerals.
To contribute to the economic development of Hoang Mai town in particular and Nghe An province in general, investing in the development of forestry economy and wood product processing is an important step to take advantage of rich forest resources, meet the demand for wood products domestically and for export, and contribute a significant part to the national budget. Understanding the importance of the industry and the development trend of Dong Hoi Industrial Park, the project "Investment in civil wood processing factory and export" is consistent with the objectives of the project of afforestation, building forest parks, developing Dong Hoi eco-tourism area invested by Le Duy Nguyen Forestry Enterprise.
The project, when put into operation, will supply the domestic market and export tens of thousands of m3wood panels, tens of thousands of tons of smokeless fuel and wood chips for paper materials, bringing billions of dong in profits to the enterprise, contributing greatly to the budget revenue each year. Creating jobs and stable income in the mountainous rural agricultural areas, contributing greatly to the overall development of the forestry sector of Nghe An province, thereby contributing to reducing social evils and reducing pressure on mechanical population growth in large cities.
In the long term, in addition to socio-economic benefits, the project will accelerate the greening of barren hills, help protect the environment and bring a clean ecological environment, improving the quality of life for people...".
As mentioned above, according to the Investment Registration Certificate granted by the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board to Dong Hoi Development Company Limited, the investment project for the civil and export wood processing factory will be operational from the second quarter of 2016. However, by the end of 2018, it was still "inactive".
On January 3, 2019, after the Provincial People's Committee approved the inspection results of the 2018 Interdisciplinary Inspection Team, the Dong Nam Economic Zone Management Board issued Decision No. 09/QD-KKT approving Dong Hoi Development Company Limited to extend the project implementation schedule. This content is clearly stated as follows: “1. Approval to extend the investment progress of the project to invest in the construction of a civil wood processing and export factory in Quynh Lap commune, Hoang Mai town, invested by Dong Hoi Development Company Limited; Investment registration certificate No. 2037241126, first issued by the Management Board of Dong Nam Economic Zone on March 2, 2016. The project implementation progress after approval to extend the progress is as follows: Twenty-four (24) months from June 13, 2018. The investor is required to complete the remaining procedures on investment, land, and construction in the first quarter of 2019; complete the project and put it into operation on June 13, 2020”.
On July 18, 2022 - that is, after the deadline set by the Southeast Economic Zone Management Board in Decision No. 09/QD-KKT, requiring Dong Hoi Development Company Limited to complete and put the project into operation within 2 years and 1 month - we were present at the site of the project to invest in the construction of a wood processing factory for civil use and export. What we saw was that on the 2-hectare land adjacent to National Highway 48D in Dong Hoi Industrial Park, Quynh Lap commune, there was a factory, there were vehicles coming in and out, there were wood chip production activities... But the appearance of a project with the potential to promote socio-economic development as described by the investor was nowhere to be seen!
From National Highway 48D, the project area is surrounded by a fence system. Outside the fence, there is a lot of waste rock and soil dumped haphazardly. Inside, at the locations adjacent to "landscape trees and high hills", there are scattered traces of digging and biting by machinery and equipment. The entrance to the project is currently a dirt road connecting to National Highway 48D, near the road boundary "National Highway 48D KM 05, Dong Hoi 1km". Inside, close to the guard house, is a vehicle weighing station and an electricity station. Next is a yard system for cars to import acacia wood, tower cranes, then a workshop with wood chip equipment; close to the mountain is a wood chip storage yard. This whole scene shows that the project to invest in building a civil wood processing and export factory of Dong Hoi Development Company Limited is truly a young acacia wood chip factory!
Asked the security guard if this was the production facility of Dong Hoi Development Company Limited? Surprisingly, this man (speaking in Thanh Hoa accent) after confirming that it was correct, said that the wood chip processing factory belonged to a company named Minh Long, headquartered in Tinh Gia district. "I heard that the company bought land from the people in the village, and has been operating for 3-4 years now..." - the security guard said. Asked the security guard to let them meet the manager, after a short while, 2 people came out and said that the manager was not present at the production facility. They gave the phone number of a person named Thinh, and said: "If you want to find out anything, just call Mr. Thinh. He is the director, the owner of this facility...".
Information from the People's Committee of Hoang Mai Town, on July 11, 2022, the Dong Nam Economic Zone Management Board inspected the civil and export wood processing workshop of Dong Hoi Development Company Limited. Through the inspection, the Dong Nam Economic Zone Management Board determined that Dong Hoi Development Company Limited had many violations in project implementation. That is, the progress is behind schedule compared to the progress recorded on the Investment Registration Certificate; construction of works is not in accordance with the content of the Construction Permit; violating the provisions of the Land Law and the Law on Environmental Protection...
A responsible official in Hoang Mai town said that at the time the Dong Nam Economic Zone Management Board conducted the inspection, the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town participated. Currently, the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town has received a document from the Dong Nam Economic Zone Management Board with the content of proposing to impose administrative sanctions on Dong Hoi Company Limited. This official said: "During the implementation of the investment project for a civil and export wood processing factory, the investor, Dong Hoi Development Company Limited, committed violations in the fields of investment, planning, land, environment, etc. These violations have all been clarified by the Dong Nam Economic Zone Management Board, and the investor has also agreed with the inspection conclusion. Therefore, the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town is assigning relevant departments to study and advise on handling violations...".
