Nghe An: Checking and handling existing problems in wood raw material planning areas

Important mission

With the view of restructuring the forestry sector towards increasing added value and sustainable development in terms of economy, society and environment, on July 22, 2016, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 3543/QD-UBND approving the planning for the development of raw material forests in Nghe An province for the period 2016 - 2025, with a vision to 2030. At this time, the whole province has 12 companies assigned to plan the development of raw material forests with a total area of ​​208,449.91 hectares (of which the land lease planning is 70,294.1 hectares, the joint venture planning is 138,155.81 hectares).

However, after 2 years looking back, the implementation of the investors' planning was not as expected. This content isDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development(now the Department of Agriculture and Environment) detailed information in the Report "Situation of planning management and policies of enterprises developing planned raw material areas in Nghe An province" dated December 28, 2018.

Accordingly, by the end of 2018, the whole province had 13 plans for developing raw material areas with a total area of ​​226,903.25 hectares; the total land area with completed land lease procedures was 9,207.0 hectares/73,147.16 hectares, only reaching 12.58% of the planned land lease area. For joint venture areas, companies have not had investment policies to develop raw material areas according to the plan.

During the planning process, investors have not really paid attention to investing in seeds, materials, techniques... to develop raw material areas as committed when making the plan; mainly focusing on renting land, organizing forest planting on rented land; there is no specific support policy for joint ventures with forest growers in the planning area. Investors have not boldly invested in deep processing technologies to increase the added value of the raw wood production chain, only using them in raw processing lines (wood chips) or intermediate products (MDF, laminated wood...).

On August 24, 2024, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 895/QD-TTg approving the "National Forestry Planning for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050". Up to this point, the planned land area for wood raw material areas allocated to investors in the province has decreased from 226,903.25 hectares to 176,614.47 hectares. However, the quality of planning implementation by investors has not changed fundamentally.

The assessment of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (old) in Document No. 3626/SNN-KHTC dated August 30, 2024, shows that: "There are many plans and projects for developing timber and non-timber forest products by investors that have not been fully implemented according to approved decisions".

Therefore, in Document No. 3626/SNN-KHTC dated August 30, 2024, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (old) proposed the People's Committee of Nghe An province to assign the task: "Review and evaluate the implementation of planning for wood and non-timber forest product areas of investors in Nghe An province; recommend and propose a number of solutions according to the provisions of law".

The proposal of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (old) aims at the following goals: "Exploiting the potential of forests and forestry land in the province"; "Ensuring that planning, plans, and projects in the locality ensure consistency and synchronization with the national forestry planning and provincial planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050". Therefore, the Provincial People's Committee agreed to direct the implementation in Notice No. 840/TB-UBND dated November 4, 2024.

Proposal of the districts

In fact, not only the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (formerly) realized that the quality of implementing the planning of wood material zones was ineffective, but this was also recognized by the Party committees and authorities of most districts with planning of wood material zones. They did not highly appreciate investors in implementing the planning as committed to the province when assigned the planning; some districts even considered the planning of wood material zones as "bottlenecks" and "barriers" to socio-economic development, leading to waste of land resources.

For example, in Que Phong district, Viet Real Estate and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company; May Forestry Joint Stock Company; Nano Interior and Architecture Joint Stock Company; MDDF Nghe An Joint Stock Company are planned for raw material areas with a total area of ​​10,670.76 hectares. However, the 2023 review results of the Nghe An Forestry Planning Investigation Team show that all of these projects have not been implemented as committed.

Que Phong District People's Committee, when receiving opinions from Nghe An Forestry Planning Investigation Team, proposed: "Companies that have been approved by the Provincial People's Committee for raw material areas in the district (for feasible projects) should carry out procedures for land and forest lease or sign joint venture contracts with land and forest owners and work on granting sustainable forest certification (FSC), so that forest owners can develop good raw material areas for timber plantations. For projects that are not feasible, it is recommended to review and cancel the planning and hand it over to the locality to manage and protect land and forests to avoid the situation of suspended planning and land waste".

Also according to the proposal of the People's Committee of Que Phong district: "Consider canceling the planning for the project of planning the raw material area to serve the forestation project for Viet Real Estate and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company for the following reasons: Exceeding the time limit allowed by the Provincial People's Committee (24 months) stipulated in Clause 2, Article 2 of Decision No. 1748/QD-UBND dated May 17, 2019 of the Provincial People's Committee on approving the adjustment and detailed planning of the raw material area to serve the forestation project for Viet Real Estate and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company; the current planning area is mostly natural forest not suitable for planting raw material forests; voters of Chau Thon and Quang Phong communes do not agree to implement".

Or, Quy Hop district has two wood material area plans of Viet Real Estate and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company and May Forestry Joint Stock Company, with a total area of ​​over 20 thousand hectares. However, for many years, both companies have not implemented the plans. Therefore, Quy Hop district People's Committee has proposed: "For projects that are not feasible, it is recommended to review and cancel the plans and hand them over to the locality to manage and protect land and forests to avoid the situation of suspended planning and land waste...".

In Con Cuong district, there are 4 companies: Biomass Fuel Vietnam Co., Ltd.; Tuan Loc Forestry One Member Co., Ltd.; Viet Real Estate and Finance Investment Joint Stock Company; May Forestry Joint Stock Company, assigned to plan a project to plant raw material forests with a total area of ​​over 11,900 hectares.

In the April 2025 report, the People's Committee of Con Cuong district recommended: "The planning for planting raw material forests in the district over many periods has been inappropriate, leading to overlap when investors come to implement the project. We request the Provincial People's Committee, provincial departments and branches to review and adjust to ensure compliance with current forestry planning...".

Towards a comprehensive, holistic examination

In order to ensure objectivity and accuracy in reviewing and evaluating the implementation of wood material planning by investors, the Department of Agriculture and Environment assigned the Nghe An Forestry Planning Investigation Team to develop a detailed outline of the inspection plan.

Looking at the detailed outline of the approved inspection plan, it can be seen that this is a comprehensive inspection of the planning of wood raw material areas. The assigned unit (Nghe An Forestry Planning Investigation Team) will carry out professional measures to inspect, review, and evaluate the results of the implementation of the planning of wood raw material areas and non-timber forest products of investors in the province.

The Department of Agriculture and Environment's request to the Nghe An Forestry Planning Investigation Team, through inspection and review, must accurately assess the investment results of investors in the planning area; land lease, joint ventures with forest owners, individual households to serve the development of wood raw material areas; investment results in construction of processing works, infrastructure construction, etc. according to the decisions approved by the Provincial People's Committee on investment in raw material areas for investors.

At the same time, review and evaluate the difficulties, obstacles, and bottlenecks in implementing the planning of wood and non-timber forest product raw material areas; review and evaluate the entire current status of forests and forestry land approved by the Provincial People's Committee in the plan and planning for the development of planted forest raw material areas, with an area of ​​over 195,000.0 hectares in the whole province...

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment Nguyen Danh Hung said: “The Department was assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to investigate, review, and evaluate the implementation of planning for wood and non-timber forest product areas of investors in Nghe An province; recommend and propose a number of solutions in accordance with the provisions of law. To complete the task before the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Agriculture and Environment will direct the Nghe An Forestry Planning Investigation Team to strictly carry out the inspection and review work to have a truly objective and accurate report; as a basis for proposing legal solutions, in the direction of promoting the development of the province's forestry economy...".