Numerous irregularities found at two soil mines in Dien Chau.
Located in Dien Loi commune, Dien Chau district, both the Thien Hoang Equipment Joint Stock Company and Hoang Phuc Limited Liability Company's soil mines have been operating beyond their designated boundaries over large areas.
"History" of violations
Thien Hoang Equipment Joint Stock Company (headquartered in Nghi Huong Ward, Cua Lo Town) and Hoang Phuc Limited Company (headquartered in Dien Thinh Commune, Dien Chau District) have been licensed to operate two soil mines located relatively close to each other in Dien Loi Commune (Dien Chau District). The soil mine owned by Thien Hoang Equipment Joint Stock Company has a planned area of over 22 hectares, with only 15 hectares licensed in phase 1 and 7 hectares yet to be licensed, with a reserve of nearly 3.4 million cubic meters. The soil mine owned by Hoang Phuc Limited Company has a licensed exploitation area of over 10 hectares and a reserve of over 1.3 million cubic meters.
Both of these quarries were licensed to extract materials for leveling the North-South expressway and for several projects in Dien Chau district. Although they were only recently licensed, numerous violations have already been discovered at these two quarries.
Specifically, on November 28, 2022, both companies were fined by the Dien Chau District People's Committee for the same administrative violation: "occupying production forest land in rural areas from July 20, 2022, for use in mineral exploitation in Dien Loi commune." The area of violation by Hoang Phuc Co., Ltd. was 5,063.5 square meters.2Meanwhile, Thien Hoang Equipment Joint Stock Company violated regulations on an area of 9,857.9m².2The total amount of fines imposed on these two units is over 100 million VND.
Despite a history of violations, these two companies did not learn from their mistakes and continued to violate regulations with even greater severity. On June 5, 2024, the People's Committee of Dien Loi Commune submitted Report No. 271/UBND to the People's Committee of Dien Chau District regarding the current state of soil mining by the joint venture of Thien Hoang Equipment JSC and Hoang Phuc Co., Ltd. This report clearly stated that on May 19, 2024, the People's Committee of Dien Loi Commune, in coordination with the aforementioned joint venture, conducted a field inspection of the locations of each mine. During the inspection, it was discovered that the companies had mined outside the permitted area.
Accordingly, the soil mine of Thien Hoang Equipment Joint Stock Company was exploited outside the designated mining area in 3 locations, with an infringing area of approximately 19,589m².2(nearly 2 hectares). Hoang Phuc Co., Ltd. mines outside the licensed mining area in one location, with an area of violation of 1,454 square meters.2.
Furthermore, the People's Committee of Dien Loc commune also pointed out that, during the exploitation process, Hoang Phuc Co., Ltd. arbitrarily expanded some points outside the boundaries of the old road by 3-5m, and at some bends by 7-8m. The People's Committee of the commune discovered this and worked with Hoang Phuc Co., Ltd., and also sent reports to the People's Committee of Dien Chau district and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Dien Chau district (in 2022 and 2023), requesting inspection and handling.
Serious nature!
Following the aforementioned violations, on July 30, 2024, the leaders of the Dien Chau District People's Committee organized a delegation to inspect mineral exploitation activities, land management, construction, and traffic safety related to the two soil mines in Dien Loi commune.
During the inspection, the inspection team requested the units to provide relevant legal documents. However, upon inspection, the units had not provided the mine design documents or the design documents for the access road to the mine, which had been appraised and approved by the investment decision-maker as required by the Construction Law; they also lacked acceptance documents, construction logs, quality management documents for the project components, acceptance documents for completed project components, and documents for the completion of the project to put the project into use as required; there were no documents for managing and controlling daily mining operations, documents for managing vehicles entering and exiting the mine; and no documents for the land clearance plan.
At the site, the inspection team from the Dien Chau District People's Committee also discovered several other issues at these two soil mines. Most notably, during the mining process, Thien Hoang Equipment Joint Stock Company had lost the boundary markers of the permitted mining area. At both mines, Thien Hoang Equipment Joint Stock Company and Hoang Phuc Limited Liability Company are mining beyond the boundaries of their licensed mining areas. This is a violation of the law on mineral exploitation. The Dien Loi Commune People's Committee reported that they had inspected the sites and requested a halt to mining outside the permitted boundaries, but the companies continued to violate the regulations.
Furthermore, the transportation of excavated soil does not comply with regulations on monitoring and managing reserves, lacks weighing stations to check load capacity, vehicles are not cleaned before leaving the mine, and some vehicles are not covered during transportation, causing environmental pollution and affecting the lives of people in the surrounding area.
The inspection team also determined that the construction of mine infrastructure and connecting roads to the mine via Highway N2 was not in accordance with current procedures and regulations: The mine's infrastructure, such as the operating building, weighing station, and vehicle washing area, was not fully constructed; mining methods did not comply with regulations; the roads leading to the mine had not been completed and approved by the specialized construction agency for completion and commissioning as required; in reality, many sections of the roads were damaged, with cracked and subsided road surfaces and shoulders; traffic safety was inadequate; and the presence of mud and soil on the roads caused difficulties in travel, environmental pollution, and affected the lives of people living along the route.
In reality, based on our observations (reporter), as well as reports from the People's Committee of Dien Loi commune and opinions from local residents along the route of soil transportation, the mining and transportation units, using many heavy-duty vehicles, are causing damage to the road, creating thick clouds of dust, and affecting the lives of the people (including on the asphalt road DH.256 through the center of Dien Loi commune).
Mr. Le Van Thuan, Chairman of the Dien Loi Commune People's Committee, said that the commune had repeatedly worked with Thien Hoang Equipment Joint Stock Company and Hoang Phuc Limited Liability Company, but the companies still failed to comply with environmental pollution control measures. Therefore, on June 25th and 26th, 2024, local residents and the Dien Loi Commune People's Committee set up checkpoints, demanding that the mining companies and transport vehicles comply with regulations, repair the roads, water the roads, and cover the truck beds to avoid affecting the lives of the people. However, in reality, the road transporting materials from the two quarries to the construction site remains heavily dusty and polluted.
Regarding the two aforementioned units' excessive exploitation beyond the permitted area, Mr. Thuan also stated that the commune proactively conducts inspections several times a month. In fact, after discovering the exploitation exceeding the permitted area, they reported it to the district for inspection and handling. The commune People's Committee also worked with and requested them to stop the exploitation outside the permitted area, but the units continued to violate the regulations.
However, in our opinion, the inspection and handling of these two units was slow. Although the People's Committee of Dien Loi commune reported the illegal mining on June 5, 2024, the People's Committee of Dien Chau district only conducted an inspection at the end of July. Mr. Ngo Thanh Binh, Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Dien Chau district in charge of the Dien Loi commune area, explained the reason was that he was "too busy" at that time.
It is known that on August 7, 2024, the People's Committee of Dien Loi commune issued Notice No. 370/TB-UBND requesting Hoang Phuc Co., Ltd. to immediately stop exploiting land outside the planned mining area; and Thien Hoang Equipment Co., Ltd. to immediately stop exploiting outside the mining area and outside the licensed mining area for phase 1.
The People's Committee of Dien Loi commune also requested these two companies to cooperate and coordinate with the local authorities to measure the volume and area of land that has been exploited outside the licensed and planned mining area in order to obtain specific and accurate data to serve the handling of administrative violations.
"Currently, the local authorities are still waiting for the measurement results to determine the area and volume of the violations and to have grounds to submit a proposal to the competent authority for sanctions," added Mr. Le Van Thuan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Dien Loi commune.
On August 9, 2024, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued Document No. 5542/STNMT-KS regarding the inspection of mineral exploitation activities in Dien Chau district, requesting Dien Chau district to urgently establish an inspection team to inspect mineral exploitation activities in the district (including the two aforementioned soil mines in Dien Loi commune).
On the same day, the People's Committee of Dien Chau District also sent a document to the People's Committee of Dien Loi Commune to urge them to prepare dossiers for handling violations of the law on mineral exploitation activities at two soil mines in Dien Loi Commune.
