An additional 993 billion VND will be allocated to serve the site clearance of the Ban Mong mega project.

Comrades: Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council chaired the meeting.

Attending the working session were comrades: Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Hoang Nghia Hieu - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Vo Thi Minh Sinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Nghe An province; comrades of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Provincial Party Executive Committee; delegates of the Provincial People's Council from 21 delegation groups and invited delegates.

At the discussion session, delegates of the People's Council of Nghe An province requested the Provincial People's Committee to discuss with voters solutions to handle the existing problems and difficulties of the Ban Mong Reservoir Project, especially those related to the allocation of resettlement land to people and handling the re-encroachment of land by people growing perennial trees on the project.

Responding to this content, Director of Nghe An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Thanh Vinh said: The Ban Mong Reservoir Project was approved by the Government for investment in 2006 and in 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development approved the project with a total investment of 3,741 billion VND.

However, in 2011, implementing Resolution No. 11 of the Government and Directive No. 1792, due to the difficult economic situation and the reduction of public investment, the project's progress was delayed. In 2017, the project was allocated capital to implement 4 components: main dam, hydropower, site clearance, and canals.

In which, the site clearance component is assigned to Nghe An province. From 2009 to now, the province has carried out site clearance of 672 hectares, with a cost of 574 billion VND. After the working session in Nghe An in July 2022, based on the actual survey at the project, the Prime Minister announced the conclusion, after which the Ministry of Planning and Investment advised to arrange for the project to continue in the period 2021 - 2025, with a total additional investment of 1,850 billion VND due to price fluctuations and some policies.

However, at the time of 2006 there was only tinvestment policy announcement, meanwhile, according to new legal regulations, there must bedecisioninvestment policyTherefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has consulted and the Government has assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to preside over adjusting the total investment level.

Up to now, the project's total investment has been adjusted, expected to add 1,850 billion VND, of which Nghe An will be allocated an additional 993 billion VND for site clearance. Director of Nghe An Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Thanh Vinh said that the province will deploy the implementation of the next steps, expected to be implemented in the 2023 - 2026 period.

The Ban Mong Reservoir Project is the largest irrigation project in Nghe An, as well as the North Central region. However, instead of being completed on schedule in 2015, this national key project is still unfinished. The Ban Mong Reservoir has a storage capacity of 225 million m³, is a project with national important criteria, of special importance to the lives of people in the Western Nghe An region and part of Nhu Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province, with the goal of contributing to solving 1/3 of the water shortage needs of Nghe An and Southern Thanh Hoa provinces, will provide irrigation water for 18,871 hectares of crops along the Hieu River; provide water for industrial production and people's lives; supplement water in the dry season for Lam River, reduce floods for the downstream of Hieu River; at the same time, combine power generation with a capacity of 45MW, develop tourism.

Regarding the discussion opinion in the group on the afternoon of July 5, proposing to increase the support subjects in the support policy for forest owners to carry out forest protection work in the province to be submitted to the 14th meeting for consideration and approval, specifically adding the subjects to be people in regions I and II, Mr. Phung Thanh Vinh - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Nghe An said that the above policy is designed towards forest managers and protectors; specifically 99 forest owners, with 955 officers and civil servants; accordingly, the support for forest management and protection contracts is not more than 300,000 VND/ha.

In Region II, implementing the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development for Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas for the 2021-2030 period, in 2023 alone, Nghe An was allocated 454 billion VND to ensure the support needs of forest managers and protectors. At the same time, for Region I, Nghe An was allocated 53 billion VND by the Government; accordingly, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also advised on prioritizing forest management and protection.