Licensing of cargo terminals and sand and gravel gathering is still arbitrary.

(Baonghean) - The illegal exploitation of sand and gravel is currently very complicated. Along with that, the chaotic gathering and transportation of sand and gravel poses many challenges for authorities at all levels and functional agencies.

Speed ​​up licensing process

For a long time, illegal sand and gravel mining has always been a burning issue, causing public outrage. Authorities have continuously launched campaigns to crack down on, prevent and handle illegal sand and gravel mining with the aim of rectifying sand and gravel mining activities and establishing a corridor to protect essential mineral resources. However, illegal sand and gravel mining still occurs in many forms and in many areas, especially on the Lam River, through the districts of Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan and Thanh Chuong. Why is this situation so difficult to eliminate? Besides the great demand and high profits, one of the reasons is that the current licensing of mining operations is still slow, significantly affecting the management of this mineral resource.

Sand mining at the foot of Cau Ro, Thanh Chuong

At the online conference on preventing and combating violations of the law in sand and gravel mining activities on rivers and estuaries on October 27, the Provincial People's Committee requested the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to study and reform administrative procedures for licensing the exploitation of minerals such as sand, gravel, and fill soil. In fact, these minerals have been identified with other minerals for a long time, with the same documents and licensing process, which takes a lot of time and causes difficulties for businesses and localities.

The two cooperatives Hung Lam and Nghia Son Long (Hung Nguyen) have prepared documents and organized exploration but have not yet been granted a license to exploit. Mr. Pham Van Tung, Chairman of Hung Lam Cooperative, said: The application for a license was made last year but has not yet been approved. Due to the slow licensing process, it has significantly affected the lives of the cooperative members. For a living, many cooperative members have to exploit illegally; causing difficulties in management by state agencies.

Given the above situation, speeding up the process of granting mineral mining licenses is very important. In addition to the 42 licensed files, 19 enterprises are currently conducting exploration and completing their files to be granted mining licenses according to regulations.

According to Mr. Tran Van Toan, Head of the Department of Mineral Resources (Department of Natural Resources and Environment), since 2013, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has actively coordinated with relevant agencies to advise the Provincial People's Committee to promptly process applications for exploration of construction sand and gravel, with the view of shortening the processing time, effectively implementing administrative procedure reform in the field of minerals, meeting practical requirements, creating favorable conditions for enterprises to soon obtain licenses for mineral exploration and exploitation. In addition, in the near future, auctions of mineral exploitation rights will be organized in some areas. The purpose is to innovate the management mechanism of mineral activities in accordance with the market economy mechanism as prescribed and attract investment to effectively exploit local mineral resources, increasing budget revenue for the State.

Eliminate illegal assembly points

Along with the acceleration of the licensing of exploitation; the Provincial People's Committee is tightening the management of cargo terminals for gathering and trading sand and gravel in the area. Because currently, most of the illegally exploited sand is gathered at these terminals. If the cargo terminals for gathering sand and gravel cannot be managed, it will be very difficult to prevent illegal sand and gravel exploitation. According to the preliminary summary of the Department of Transport, there are currently 55 cargo terminals in the province. Of which, 31 are licensed and 24 are unlicensed. However, this number does not reflect the true situation because through surveys in many localities, the number of cargo terminals in reality is much larger, mainly unlicensed terminals. In Thanh Chuong, there are currently over 20 terminals, Do Luong has over 5 terminals. However, when submitting to the Department of Transport, these districts did not report fully.

Sand and gravel gathering station in Hung Khanh commune (Hung Nguyen) operates illegally.

Since 2005, the licensing of cargo terminals has been decentralized by the Provincial People's Committee to the District People's Committee. However, the licensing is still arbitrary. Most of these facilities do not have complete documents on land lease procedures for business purposes; water area diagrams and access channels to the terminal... Normally, the owners of sand terminals sign a land lease contract with the Commune People's Committee on 5% of public land, specifically riverside alluvial land, reserve land to open the terminal and pay money to the commune. There are many terminals without licenses, located close to traffic works but still exist year after year. According to Mr. Le Thanh Binh, Deputy Head of the Infrastructure Management Department (Department of Transport), the fact that cargo terminals have not completed all the documents to be licensed has existed for many years but has not been resolved. This shows the lack of responsibility of the authorities, especially at the district and commune levels.

Hung Nguyen district has 17 cargo terminals for gathering sand and gravel. Of these, only 5 terminals are licensed and only 1 terminal is located along the river. At the Yen Xuan railway bridge area (Hung Xuan, Hung Nguyen), there are currently 2 terminals located close to the foot of the bridge. While according to regulations, within a radius of 150m, construction or excavation that affects the foot of the bridge is not allowed. The gathering of ships under the bridge and the operation of excavators within the bridge protection radius are all violations of the regulations on protecting the bridge's safety corridor. According to the leader of the Department of Industry and Trade of Hung Nguyen district, for the sand terminals at the foot of Yen Xuan bridge, due to illegal operations, the district has requested the People's Committee of Hung Xuan commune to immediately terminate the land lease contracts with the terminals violating the safety corridor of Yen Xuan bridge and return the land within the traffic safety area of ​​the bridge. For the terminals in Hung Khanh and Hung Linh communes, the district requires the terminal owners to stop operations and submit to the competent authority for granting operating licenses according to regulations.

Faced with this situation, since the beginning of this year, the Department of Transport has issued documents to guide districts and request reports on the management and licensing of sand wharfs, but the reporting is not complete. Mr. Tran Khac Xuan, Head of the Department of Infrastructure Management (Department of Transport) said: According to the 2012 planning of the Provincial People's Committee, Nghe An only has 3 sand and gravel gathering points in Vinh City, Nam Dan District and Do Luong District. However, currently, due to practical requirements, the department is coordinating with other agencies to adjust the planning, and at the same time instructing districts and sand wharf owners to prepare documents to be re-licensed according to the correct procedures. Currently, only 1 facility meets the conditions and has been licensed. In the coming time, the department will request districts to completely handle illegal gathering points, affecting traffic works, dykes, water flows, etc.

Nguyen Hung