It is necessary to ensure harmony of interests between people and mineral exploitation enterprises.

(LĐ online) - This is one of the directions of Mr. Vo Ngoc Hiep - Vice Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee during the meeting and working session to resolve difficulties and problems of enterprises in the province on the afternoon of April 24.

At this meeting, there were 5 businesses participating; including a mineral mining business in Da Oai commune (Da Huoai district).

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy - General Director of Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited reflected at the meeting and working session of Lam Dong province leaders with enterprises and investors that there are difficulties and problems that need to be resolved.

According to the reflection from Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy - General Director of Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited, the Company was granted a license to exploit sand, gravel and mineral gravel No. 95 by the People's Committee of Lam Dong province on November 30, 2018 with full legal procedures.

However, when implementing the activities, the old Da Ton commune government (now Da Oai commune) did not create favorable conditions, even caused difficulties, hindered and did not cooperate to protect the legitimate rights of the Company, seriously affecting the production and business activities of the Company.

In particular, recently, when the Company sent a mining notice to the People's Committee of Da Oai commune, people immediately set up tents, booths, and hung banners to protest the mining.

Specifically, according to Ms. Thuy, on April 9 , at the location and scope that Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee licensed the Company, there was a large-scale, organized theft of sand and gravel .

The location of the sand and gravel gathering objects is on the street frontage, but the commune government and commune police did not detect it. The gathering, transportation and consumption of sand and gravel takes place every day and for a long time .

“ This makes the public question why, before the Company started mining, people set up tents, hung banners and called on women and the elderly to protest, while illegal mining still happens openly every day? ” - Ms. Thuy asked and requested the leaders of the Provincial People's Committee and relevant departments to pay attention to verifying and investigating the act of covering up the illegal mining of sand, gravel and soil in Da Oai commune as well as protecting legitimate rights and creating conditions for the Company to operate in accordance with its license and regulations of the law.

Mr. Nguyen Ha Loc - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment answered questions from Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited

Mr. Nguyen Ha Loc - Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of the province said that through comparing and checking the dossier components, the process of granting mineral exploitation licenses , the procedure for granting mining licenses granted by the Provincial People's Committee to Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited is in accordance with regulations and the Department has also issued a document responding to the legality of mining activities according to the petition of the people in Da Oai commune.

Besides, the enterprise has paid about 3.8 billion VND in taxes and complied with the regulations of the authorities.

Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri - Vice Chairman of Da Huoai District People's Committee informed about the case of illegal sand mining on Da Huoai River.

Meanwhile, responding to the feedback from the enterprise, Mr. Nguyen Cao Tri - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Da Huoai district informed that, regarding the illegal sand mining on the Da Huoai river that the authorities discovered on April 8, at the location passing through the old Da Ton commune (now Da Oai commune), there was 1 excavator and 1 truck digging and transporting sand in the middle of the river, located in the area permitted for sand mining by Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited. Currently, the district has assigned the People's Committee of Da Oai commune, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of the district to prepare a file for handling and will report to the People's Committee of the district as well as have a written response to the enterprise in the coming days.

"During the inspection and verification process, if we discover that commune officials are covering up illegal sand mining activities, we will resolutely handle them according to the law," said Mr. Tri.

Regarding the issue of people protesting the Company's sand mining activities, Mr. Tri said that since 2019, Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited implemented the mining plan but did not notify the commune authorities at that time, so people came to protest the mining activities.

Upon receiving the information, the commune and district authorities came to work with both sides. However, after receiving feedback from both the people and businesses, the Provincial People's Committee directed the inspection and settlement of the incident; at the same time, temporarily stopped sand mining.

In early 2025, the People's Committee of Da Huoai district continued to organize a dialogue between the people and Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited . Through the dialogue, the people did not agree and objected to the sand mining of the enterprise on the Da Huoai River, which affected the water source for production. Specifically, durian trees would lack water if the enterprise exploited sand, affecting an area of ​​about 500 hectares with about 400 households downstream.

Illegal sand mining activities of subjects in the licensed sand mining area of ​​Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited

After the departments, branches and localities informed about the above incident, responding to the representative of Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited , Vice Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee Vo Ngoc Hiep emphasized: Regarding the granting of sand exploitation rights, exploitation scope, environmental impact assessment... of Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Agriculture and Environment to preside over, inspect and review, and the enterprise ensured the processes and procedures according to regulations.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the People's Committee of Da Huoai district to investigate and clarify why the enterprise was granted a mining license but could not exploit sand, while there was illegal sand mining in the above area. At the same time, clarify the reflection of the enterprise whether or not there was any collusion of Da Oai commune officials in illegal sand mining activities?

Vice Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee Vo Ngoc Hiep responded to the feedback of Vitrac Lam Dong Company Limited

Regarding people preventing sand mining activities of enterprises but the inspection and review process if there is no legitimate reason, local authorities and relevant authorities must take measures to protect the interests of enterprises.

In addition, to ensure the harmony of interests between people and businesses, regarding people's complaints about unsafe water sources caused by sand mining activities of businesses, Mr. Vo Ngoc Hiep requested the leaders of Da Huoai district to clarify this issue to report to the Provincial People's Committee before May 5.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/kinh-te/202504/can-bao-dam-hai-hoa-loi-ich-giua-nguoi-dan-va-doanh-nghiep-khai-thac-khoang-san-8ad392b/