Nghe An reviews and handles ineffective and unimplemented wood material zoning plans

Great expectations, unexpected results

With a forestry land fund of nearly 1.2 million hectares, many years ago, Nghe An province identified this as a strength in socio-economic development, paying special attention to the planning of wood material areas, focusing on attracting investors to implement raw material forest planting projects.

Starting from September 2008, Innovgreen Company Limited was the first investor approved by the Provincial People's Committee to plan and implement the project of planting raw material forests in the mountainous districts of Que Phong, Quy Chau, Quy Hop, Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong. Then in the following years, investors such as Thanh Thanh Dat Company Limited, Tan Viet Trung Artificial Board Joint Stock Company, Tan Hong Pulp Production and Processing Factory, Thanh Phat Investment and Production Joint Stock Company, May Forestry Joint Stock Company, Tuan Loc Construction Investment Joint Stock Company, Viet Financial Investment and Real Estate Joint Stock Company... were approved to implement the project of planting raw material forests with a planned area of ​​​​tens of thousands of hectares to tens of thousands of hectares.

By July 2016, with the view of restructuring the forestry sector towards increasing added value and sustainable development in terms of economy, society and environment, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 3543/QD-UBND approving the planning for raw material forest development in Nghe An province for the period 2016 - 2018, with a vision to 2030.

At this time, Decision No. 3543/QD-UBND clearly stated that the whole province had 12 companies planning to develop raw material forests with a total area of ​​208,449.91 hectares; of which, land lease planning with an area of ​​70,294.1 hectares, joint venture planning with an area of ​​138,155.81 hectares.

However, by the end of 2018, the assessment of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Department of Agriculture and Environment) in the "Report on the management of planning and policies of enterprises developing planned raw material areas in Nghe An province" showed that the implementation of planning by investors did not achieve the expected results.

Accordingly, as of December 28, 2018, the whole province had 9 investors with 13 plans for developing raw material areas approved by the Provincial People's Committee with a total area of ​​226,903.25 hectares. However: "... In the process of implementing the plan, there were many difficulties, investors did not really care about investing in seeds, materials, techniques... to develop raw material areas as committed when making the plan; mainly focused on renting land, organizing forest planting on rented land; there were no specific support policies for joint ventures and partnerships 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 stopping at raw processing lines (wood chips) or intermediate products (MDF, laminated wood...).

For the forestry land area requested for lease in the planning, investors have carried out procedures to prepare land lease application files, however, the work of compensation and site clearance to recover land for lease projects has encountered many difficulties.

Up to now, the total area of ​​land with completed land lease procedures for projects is 9,207.0 ha/73,147.16 ha, reaching 12.58% of the planned land lease area. The progress of land lease implementation of the projects is very slow, affecting the implementation of the approved planning, the underlying cause of which is that mountainous households currently lack production forest land for economic development, job creation, and poverty reduction.

Regarding joint venture and association areas, only Tan Hong Import Export Joint Stock Company has invested and supported joint ventures and associations with households to develop raw material areas, but for many reasons it stopped in 2010; the remaining companies do not have investment policies for joint venture and association areas to develop raw material areas according to the plan.

Reasons: Requires large investment capital, slow capital turnover cycle; difficult to recover investment capital for households, if there is no appropriate joint venture and association policy for each region according to the production level and customs of the people; After the factory goes into operation, companies only focus on purchasing enough raw wood for the factory to operate, there is no roadmap for using raw wood of origin to increase the value and consumption capacity of products in the international market..."

By the end of 2024, a report by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Department of Agriculture and Environment) showed that the province had 16 plans and projects related to forest and forestry land areas, with a total area of ​​about 176,614.47 hectares planned for investors. However, in reality, many plans and projects for developing timber and non-timber forest products by investors have not been fully implemented according to the approved decisions!

Review and handle according to regulations

On August 24, 2024, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 895/QD-TTg approving the national forestry planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050. At Point b, Clause 6, Article 2 of Decision No. 895/QD-TTg stipulates: "... review and adjust planning, plans, and projects in the local area to ensure consistency and synchronization with this planning; update the contents of relevant planning, projects, and projects being implemented in the locality to ensure compliance with the orientations on forestry development in the locality"...

Implementing the above regulations, on August 30, 2024, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reported to the Provincial People's Committee on the shortcomings in the planning and development projects of timber and non-timber forest products of investors, thereby proposing the Provincial People's Committee to assign the task of "Reviewing and evaluating the implementation of planning of timber and non-timber forest product areas of investors in Nghe An province; recommending and proposing a number of solutions in accordance with the provisions of law".

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development: "In order to exploit the potential of forests and forestry land in the province, it is necessary to review and evaluate the implementation of planning and projects for developing wood material forests by investors in Nghe An province, thereby proposing solutions to handle plans and projects that have not been implemented or have been implemented ineffectively, and at the same time, to ensure that plans, 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, which is necessary".

After that proposal, with the permission of the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development assigned the Forestry Planning Investigation Team 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 according to the provisions of law".

According to Mr. Ngo Hung Tu - Head of the Forestry Planning Investigation Team of Nghe An province, since 2023, his unit has conducted surveys and reported on the implementation of wood material area planning to the competent authorities of the province. In particular, the Team has reported a number of shortcomings and inadequacies to recommend the need to investigate and evaluate the implementation status and effectiveness of the planning of raw material areas of investors in Nghe An province.

From there, it will serve as a basis for competent authorities to propose solutions in accordance with the provisions of law; have plans and zoning for sustainable forestry land use and increase the value chain of forestry production and business in the coming period.

Head of the Forestry Planning Investigation Team of Nghe An Province, Mr. Ngo Hung Tu, added: "This is a very important task. Therefore, to ensure the best results in the inspection and review work, the Forestry Planning Investigation Team has prepared a detailed outline of the inspection and review plan and submitted it to the Department of Agriculture and Environment for consideration and approval. After the detailed outline is approved, the Team will organize the implementation...".