Although on July 14, 2023, the People's Committee of Quang Tri province issued Document No. 3485/UBND-KT on reviewing and handling weighing stations that purchase illegal planted forest timber, currently in Gio Linh district, there are still illegal planted forest timber purchasing points.
3 stations for purchasing planted forest wood in 1 village
On December 19, we were present at the Hai Hoa Village Cultural House, Hai Thai Commune, Gio Linh District. Around the cultural house area, there were more than 10 large and small trucks and a wheel excavator parked on the leveled red soil.
In front of the village cultural house, there is an electronic weighing station that was built a long time ago. Next to the cultural house, there is also an electronic weighing station that has just been installed. Near this weighing station, a group of workers are transporting many iron poles from a truck. In the middle of the spacious red ground in front of the cultural house, there are piles of peeled cajuput wood.
2 weighing stations to purchase illegally planted forest timber in the area of Hai Hoa Village Cultural House - Photo: TRUNG LINH
About 500 meters from the Hai Hoa Village Cultural House, we recorded another station for purchasing planted forest wood located close to the edge of the asphalt road. Here, there is an electronic weighing station, a corrugated iron house and a crawler excavator. In the middle of the ground, a layer of crushed stone is scattered with peeled cajuput tree trunks.
Seeing us taking pictures and recording, a man on a motorbike approached. The man introduced himself as Le Duc Hai, living in An Thai village. This land has been used by his family to grow cajuput forest for many years, with an area of about 1 hectare. Recently, a business came to see him to rent the land for 20 million VND/year, paying in advance for 5 years.
“If you plant Melaleuca trees, after about 5 years, you will only earn about 80 million VND/ha. Meanwhile, if you rent them out, you will earn more than 20 million VND, and you will receive money immediately,” said Mr. Hai.
Not far away is the house of Hai Hoa Village Chief Le Duc Long. Mr. Long said that the Hai Hoa Village Cultural House area is about 1 hectare wide, planned by the commune as a place for community activities. Recently, the locality has completed the community yard and volleyball court, but the football field and fence will not be built until 2024.
While waiting for funding from higher levels, a local resident named Phuong, who specializes in planting forests and purchasing cajuput wood, came to discuss borrowing the space around the village cultural house to use as a wood transit point.
“Mr. Phuong said he would only borrow it for a short time, so the village lent it to him. The two sides only had a verbal exchange and no written commitment. They started gathering wood at the village cultural house for transit in June 2023. After being lent the land, Mr. Phuong supported the village with 20 million VND so that the village could carry out some minor projects at the cultural house such as water systems, lighting...”, Mr. Long said.
When asked about the license of the unit that borrowed the land to build a weighing station to purchase planted forest wood, Mr. Long said: “They said they did not have any license, they just borrowed the land to weigh the wood and load it onto a truck to transport to Da Nang . It is possible that this person bought the wood from the forest, then brought it to the gathering place to weigh it and then loaded it onto a truck to transport it. At first, when I saw the wood coming in, there were trucks to transport it, so I thought they were doing small, simple business. Now, seeing so many trucks coming in, I am also worried about the security and order situation in the village.”
Mr. Long added that before lending the land, a village meeting was held and a report was made to the commune People's Committee, but the placement of the electronic weighing station was not mentioned to the commune leaders. Because there was no written commitment, the village could reclaim the lent land at any time to continue constructing the remaining items at the village cultural house.
When we mentioned the legal regulations on setting up weighing stations to purchase planted forest timber, such as: ensuring criteria for business registration, tax declaration, ensuring fire prevention and fighting... Mr. Long said he would report to the commune leaders for timely handling.
Authorities do not have information
Recently, the fact that localities have allowed many illegal timber purchasing stations to exist has upset public opinion. The Provincial Business Association has also sent a document requesting the Provincial People's Committee to direct the relevant agencies to organize inspections and reviews to ensure that the activities of timber purchasing points in the area are in accordance with the law, avoid tax losses, ensure security and order, and at the same time create a healthy competitive environment, contributing to promoting the development of timber production and processing.
In light of the above situation, on July 14, 2023, the People's Committee of Quang Tri province issued Document No. 3485/UBND-KT on reviewing and handling illegal timber purchasing weighing stations. The Provincial People's Committee requested the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities to review and thoroughly handle illegal timber purchasing weighing stations in the area (if any) before August 30, 2023.
The Provincial Police and the Department of Transport direct the functional forces to increase patrols and strictly handle violations. The Department of Industry and Trade regularly monitors the implementation of inspections and handling of violations by localities, promptly reports to the Provincial People's Committee for direction and handling according to regulations.
To clarify this issue, we met with the leader of the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Gio Linh district and asked about the implementation of the direction of the Provincial People's Committee according to document No. 3485/UBND-KT. We were told that up to now, Gio Linh district has not conducted any inspection.
When the reporter provided images and information about 3 stations for weighing and purchasing planted forest wood in Hai Hoa village, Hai Thai commune and continued to ask whether the department was assigned to manage the activities of stations for weighing and purchasing planted forest wood in the area, the leader of the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Gio Linh district appeared confused and said he did not know clearly.
Head of the Economic - Infrastructure Department of Gio Linh district, Le Van Quang, said: "Based on the feedback from the press, we will receive and advise the leaders of the district People's Committee to have a solution, not waiting for the province anymore."
On the afternoon of December 20, Mr. Quang informed that the same morning, the district had established a team to inspect the operation of 3 weighing stations for purchasing planted forest wood that the reporter had reported. Through the inspection, 2 weighing stations at the Hai Hoa village cultural house were in operation, the weighing station at Mr. Le Duc Hai's land plot was not yet in operation.
During the inspection, the delegation worked with the owner of one facility at the Hai Hoa Village Cultural House. The owner of this facility could not provide relevant documents, so the operation was suspended. The inspection delegation could not meet the owner of the remaining two weighing stations, so they announced a temporary suspension of operation to check the necessary documents and procedures.
Trung Linh
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