At the end of February 2023, the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee assigned tasks and directed the People's Committees at the district level to inspect and rectify violations in mineral activities, specifically at sand, gravel, and soil mines, etc. To ensure that the inspection work is carried out effectively, the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee also assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to guide the People's Committees at the district level on the content of inspection and handling.
According to the guidelines of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment presented in Document No. 1435/STNMT-KS dated March 13, 2023, the inspection of compliance with the law in mineral activities is very thorough and comprehensive. It is comprehensive because the inspection covers all areas: minerals, land, environment, water resources, mine design, labor use and occupational safety; the fulfillment of financial and tax obligations to the State; and the results of rectifying limitations and violations in mineral activities as concluded in inspections by competent state agencies (if any). The thoroughness of the inspection is also evident because, in each area, the district-level People's Committee will have to organize inspections according to specific and detailed items separated by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Similar to the mineral sector, there are 11 items to be inspected, such as: checking the mining capacity against the permitted capacity in the license; the installation of camera systems and weighing stations to monitor actual mining output; records and documents related to output control; the statistical inventory of mineral reserves in the permitted mining area; the demarcation of the licensed mining area and the management of boundary markers; checking mining outside the licensed boundaries… Or in the area of fulfilling financial and tax obligations to the State, the district-level People's Committee will inspect organizations licensed to mine minerals to ensure they fulfill their tax obligations (mineral exploitation rights fees, resource tax, environmental protection fees, land rent, value-added tax, corporate income tax, industrial wastewater fees…); environmental restoration deposits in mineral activities (total number of deposits, number of deposits); Simultaneously, the inspection should also examine the fulfillment of obligations and responsibilities to the local community and residents living near the mining area. In short, to conduct the inspection as instructed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the People's Committees of the districts need to mobilize personnel from many relevant departments and units.
Listening to feedback from the districts more than a month after the Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued Document No. 1435/STNMT-KS, there is a delay. Upon contacting and inquiring in several districts, the explanation given was that mineral inspections in the area are an annual activity. The 2022 inspections only recently concluded, and now they are continuing, which could lead to complaints from businesses who feel the government is creating difficulties, hence the delay… This explanation is indeed reasonable and understandable.
However, the districts need to review the inspection results of the inter-agency team established under Decision No. 3892/QD-UBND dated October 21, 2021, of the Provincial People's Committee, to see that the directives of the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee are necessary and urgent. Specifically, with only 13 businesses inspected, the total amount of fines, back taxes, and additional payments made by businesses during the inspection period was over 44 billion VND; of which, fines and back taxes for tax violations alone amounted to over 18.3 billion VND.
In addition, the inter-agency team also pointed out many shortcomings and violations by organizations licensed to exploit minerals, such as: using land for mine office areas and waste dumps without leasing the land; not installing weighing stations; creating incomplete books, documents, and related materials to determine the actual annual mining output; some enterprises exceeding the permitted capacity, mining beyond the permitted boundaries, violating mine design regulations, constructing fences that do not meet standards for explosive material storage, not fully participating in social insurance for workers, not providing adequate occupational safety and health training, and not developing emergency response and incident handling plans… Most notably, all 13 enterprises inspected had violations in the tax field!
Furthermore, the mining sector is inherently complex, with violations and irregularities that state management officials could never have anticipated. A specific example is that recently, in early April 2023, the Provincial Police Investigation Agency inspected and discovered that Dong Nam Co., Ltd. was operating a land mining operation at the Ru Dua mine (Nghi Hung commune, Nghi Loc district) exceeding the permitted reserve by over 300,000 cubic meters.3.
Therefore, the Party committees and authorities of the districts should carefully reassess the state management of mineral resources at both levels within their jurisdiction. This will allow them to develop a plan for organizing inspections as directed by the Party Committee of the Provincial People's Committee and guided by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. It is crucial and urgent that this task not be delayed. Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha recently issued a directive to the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-governed cities in Document No. 2547/VPCP-CN, dated April 14, 2023: “Publicly handle the responsibility of officials and heads of agencies and organizations who cover up or abet illegal mineral exploitation within their jurisdiction.”
