Strictly handle the leveling of tens of thousands of square meters of rice fields in Hung Dong commune

(Baonghean) - In Hung Dong commune (Vinh city), recently, there was a situation where two enterprises arbitrarily leveled tens of thousands of square meters of rice production land, while the competent authority had not yet considered and permitted the conversion of land use purpose and land allocation.

Businesses "act on their own"

Information about the enterprise arbitrarily leveling rice-producing land in Hung Dong commune was sent to Nghe An Newspaper by a local citizen at the end of July 2017. Specifically, the citizen's petition stated: After the Dang Thai Mai road was completed, the My Hau agricultural land, where two rice crops are grown in Hung Dong commune, became an industrial park that developed spontaneously.

There have been about 8-10 housing projects built without construction permits and land use right certificates. In particular, about 1-2 months ago, there was a situation where businesses arbitrarily organized the leveling of agricultural land with an area of ​​tens of thousands of square meters.²...

Agricultural land area leveled by Vinh Thanh Investment and Construction Company Limited. Photo: Nhat Lan

The “spontaneously developed industrial park” in Hung Dong commune is actually a place for gathering and trading construction materials, located adjacent to Nha Le canal, near Gia bridge, on Dang Thai Mai street. The situation of disorderly construction is real, carried out by some businesses located here. And this content was handled by Vinh City People's Committee in 2016.

According to the representative of the People's Committee of Hung Dong commune, the enterprise that leveled the agricultural land in the citizen's complaint was Vinh Thanh Investment and Construction Company Limited; the act of dumping soil and leveling was carried out around the end of June and the beginning of July 2017; the leveled area was 1.9 hectares. In addition, in Hung Dong commune, there was a similar incident, carried out by Hoang Minh Company Limited, in Nuong Moc field, under the management of Team 4, Hung Dong 1 Agricultural Cooperative; with the leveled area being 5,000 square meters.

With Vinh Thanh Investment and Construction Company Limited, the Provincial People's Committee allowed it to survey and select a location to invest in the project "Office, production of precast concrete components, commercial concrete"; to work directly with land users to negotiate the transfer of land use rights... After the households and individuals transferred the land use rights, this enterprise carried out the act of dumping soil and leveling the ground.

On July 20, 2017, upon discovering the incident, the People's Committee of Hung Dong commune inspected the scene and requested the enterprise to provide relevant documents and procedures, thereby determining that the leveled area had not been permitted by the competent authority to change the land use purpose. Therefore, a record of administrative violations was drawn up against Vinh Thanh Investment and Construction Company Limited; and the suspension of agricultural land leveling activities was requested.

Minutes of administrative violations against Vinh Thanh Investment and Construction Company Limited, established by the People's Committee of Hung Dong Commune on July 20, 2017. Photo: Nhat Lan

As for Hoang Minh Company Limited, the enterprise was permitted by the Provincial People's Committee to survey and implement the project "Commercial center, office for maintenance of construction equipment and company vehicles and parking lot". This enterprise completed the transfer of land use rights to related households and individuals; however, it has not been permitted by the competent authority to change the land use purpose, so when leveling the ground, the People's Committee of Hung Dong commune issued a record of administrative violations on July 10, 2017.

Need to be handled seriously

In the province, to convert rice land to land for production and business projects, it must be approved by the Provincial People's Council. And this issue is clearly stated in Official Dispatch No. 3279/UBND-CN of the Provincial People's Committee on giving opinions on the implementation of investment project procedures of Vinh Thanh Investment and Construction Company Limited.

Accordingly, in principle, the Provincial People's Committee agreed to allow Vinh Thanh Investment and Construction Company Limited to carry out procedures to survey and establish an investment project at a location in Hung Dong commune, Vinh city according to the enterprise's proposal which has been appraised by local departments and branches; the enterprise directly consults and negotiates with land users on the transfer of land use rights according to regulations.

However, after receiving agreement from land users, Vinh City People's Committee collects project land use needs and sends them to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to compile a list of requests for conversion of rice-growing land, supplement the land use plan and submit it to the Provincial People's Council for comments as a basis for deciding on conversion of land use purposes and project investment according to regulations in Clause 1, Article 58 of the Land Law.

According to a responsible official, the procedures for implementing direct investment projects using land have been clearly stipulated in Decision No. 06/QD-UBND of the Provincial People's Committee. Therefore, enterprises implementing investment projects in the province must comply with the provisions of the law on land.

And without permission from the competent authority, the two enterprises arbitrarily leveled rice fields with an area of ​​up to tens of thousands of square meters, which is a serious violation that needs to be strictly handled; in addition, it is necessary to consider the responsibility of all relevant local management levels when this incident occurred.

According to the law, the act of changing the purpose of using rice-growing land without permission from the competent authority is severely punished. In addition to the fine, the land must be restored to its original condition. Therefore, although the People's Committee of Hung Dong commune has drawn up a record of administrative violations, the mere act of "reminding" the enterprise to complete land-related procedures does not demonstrate the strictness of the law!

Nhat Lan