Participating in the delegation were Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Quy Kien, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Duy Lam and representatives of relevant units.
The locality is confused in applying the specific mechanism
Reporting at the meeting, Mr. Ho Thanh Phuong, Director of Dong Thap Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the province has now granted 14 mining licenses, the total mining reserve in the first 6 months of the year is about 972.000m3, the remaining reserve is about 25 million m3.
According to calculations, the province's sand demand in 2023 is nearly 20 million m3. Particularly for the Cao Lanh - An Huu and My An - Cao Lanh expressway projects, about 6,6 million m3, the Can Tho - Ca Mau expressway (belonging to the North-South expressway project in the 2021-2025 period) is about 7 million.
Recently, Dong Thap province has increased 50% capacity of mines 2A and 2B and introduced 2 new mines on Tien and Hau rivers with a total reserve of about 1,9 million m3. Thus, there is a shortage of about 5,1 million m3.
To supplement this number, the province is reviewing a number of mines under the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha.
According to Mr. Ho Thanh Phuong, at present, the locality is still confused in applying the specific mechanism, so it needs to be guided in detail by the Central Government. He also proposed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to consider and give opinions on 12 steps (processes and procedures) of mining under a specific mechanism based on the Department's Resolution 43 of the National Assembly, Resolution 18 of the Government, the Law on Minerals and the guidance of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
In addition, there is a local problem still wondering, for a sand mine that has been granted to a mining unit, the reserves are still there, now want to hand it over to the construction contractor according to a specific mechanism, how to do it? Is it appropriate if continuing to license the old unit to coordinate with the mining contractor?…
Applying a special mechanism to increase mining capacity
At the meeting, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Quy Kien suggested that the locality immediately follow Resolution 133 of the Government on the application of a specific mechanism to increase 50% of the capacity of mines being exploited, immediately supplying the North-South expressway project through the area, meeting the required schedule.
For the mines that have been suspended and expired, the locality shall review and classify the mines to assign them to project contractors or re-license the old unit to exploit the remaining reserves. The binding condition is that the product must be provided for key traffic projects and the time to carry out the procedures must be as short as possible.
For new mines, the locality shall carry out the procedures for certifying the application for registration of mining volume according to the guidance of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The application for registration of mining volume submitted by the contractor only needs to commit to protecting the environment and carrying out environmental renovation and restoration in mining activities.
Deputy Minister Tran Quy Kien added: “We base on the Resolutions of the National Assembly and the Government to implement. Procedures guided by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment are currently very compact. I believe that only by increasing 50% of the mining capacity of the sand mines being exploited, it will meet most of the demand for sand materials for the highway."
Shorten the maximum time for the contractor to exploit sand soon
Also at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Duy Lam acknowledged the support of Dong Thap province in supplying sand for the expressway project in recent years.
According to the Deputy Minister, currently, the North-South Expressway project east of Can Tho - Ca Mau section has been peeled organically and spread geotextiles, but there is no sand to fill the foundation, so the next construction stages are interrupted. Faced with the above situation, the Ministry of Transport directed the units to drastically focus on constructing the bridge and dig organically for the site to be handed over later.
According to the Deputy Minister of Transport, the National Assembly and the Government have issued specific mechanisms, and the MONRE also has specific instructions in the direction of very simple procedures, creating very favorable conditions for localities to implement. However, this is the first time the specific mechanism has been applied, so the locality is still confused, the implementation of procedures has not met the progress required by the Government.
“The specific mechanism has omitted many steps, the contractor only needs to register the reserve, extraction method, time, etc. to ensure environmental protection issues. These matters, the guidance of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has also clearly stated. However, currently, according to the order of procedures that Dong Thap province drafted to carry out the mining, it will take about 100 days, which is more than 3 months to get sand," said Deputy Minister Nguyen Duy Lam.
From there, the Deputy Minister of Transport asked the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for comments on 12 steps of sand mining procedures proposed by Dong Thap province, shortening the maximum time for the contractor to soon carry out the sand mining.
Besides opening new mines, the Deputy Minister also suggested that the locality consider increasing the capacity of mines being exploited, granting the mines that are suspended but still have reserves.
According to Mr. Pham Thien Nghia, Chairman of Dong Thap Provincial People's Committee, the locality always supports and tries its best to support the source of sand materials for the project. However, the Provincial People's Committee proposed the Ministry of Transport to agree that the new sand mining contractor was introduced by the Ministry of Transport.
Previously, on May 31, the Government Office issued a document conveying the opinions of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on the coordination of sand and leveling materials for highway projects in the Mekong Delta. Accordingly, the Deputy Prime Minister requested the People's Committees of An Giang, Dong Thap and Vinh Long provinces to prioritize immediately arranging sand sources for filling projects of Can Tho - Hau Giang and Hau Giang - Ca Mau expressways (belonging to the North - South expressway project Can Tho - Ca Mau), with the volume of 5 under the direction of the Prime Minister at the 2023th meeting of the State Steering Committee for important national projects and projects.
