Dak Nong recovers nearly 1,800 hectares of land from a forestry project with many violations

Dak Nong Provincial People’s Committee assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to revoke the certificate of land use rights, house ownership and property on land granted to Phu Gia Phat Company, and at the same time coordinate with relevant authorities and authorities. local authorities to review the status of land, advise the Provincial People’s Committee to hand over the forested land area to the Management Board of Nam Nung Nature Reserve (under the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Dak Nong) for management; allotment of non-forest land area to the People’s Committee of Krong No district for management. The Provincial People’s Committee assigned the competent authorities to handle the contents related to the refund of the advance payment for forest environmental services to Phu Gia Phat Company (2.9 billion VND)…

Previously, in April 2022, Dak Nong Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued inspection conclusions on the project of Phu Gia Phat Company. Accordingly, despite being allocated forests and planning land for protection forests with a large area, Phu Gia Phat Company has not yet made a dossier of request for forest allocation or forest land lease according to regulations; No deposit has been deposited to secure the project implementation.

Since being allocated land and forest, Phu Gia Phat Company has relatively well managed the forested area (more than 750 ha). However, for the area of ​​land that is no longer forested (more than 990 ha), the Company has planted nearly 150 ha (only 15% of the plan approved by the People’s Committee of Dak Nong province), but most destroyed and encroached upon the land.

In addition, the Dak Nong Department of Natural Resources and Environment also determined that Phu Gia Phat Company had many violations during the project implementation such as: arbitrarily opening roads in the project implementation area (planning land for forest prevention and control). households and production forests); Advance payment for replacement afforestation of Dak Nong Forest Protection and Development Fund but failed to provide documents for payment, advance deduction according to regulations…

Also according to the conclusion of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Dak Nong, there are many legal uncertainties in the allocation, lease of forests and forest land for Phu Gia Phat Company to implement the project. Typically, investors do not make a deposit according to regulations and the main responsibility belongs to the Department of Planning and Investment of Dak Nong. The allocation of land with a term of 50 years to Phu Gia Phat Company was also determined to be inconsistent with the provisions of the Land Law and the responsibility belongs to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Office of the People’s Committee of Dak Nong province. Of the nearly 1,800 hectares of land allocated to investors, hundreds of hectares have been encroached on and cultivated by people before 2014, but the People’s Committee of Krong No district and relevant functional units have participated. handling improperly.