Exploiting landfill soil in Phong Dien to serve construction projects

Untie the knot

One of the most important new points of the Draft Law on Geology and Minerals (amended) is the strong decentralization to local authorities, especially at the provincial/municipal level, in the management, licensing and appraisal of geological and mineral activities. Specifically, provincial/municipal authorities are authorized to approve projects and reports on geological survey results for Group III and Group IV minerals; decide to grant licenses for exploration and exploitation of mineral water and natural hot water, as well as to recover minerals in the investment project area under their authority. These contents previously required consultation or approval from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (now the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment ).

In practice, many localities have encountered difficulties in implementing key projects due to the "ask for permission" mechanism for granting mineral exploitation licenses, especially for landfill materials. Therefore, the decentralization of power according to the draft law will help localities be more proactive in identifying, granting licenses and managing local resources; at the same time, they will be directly responsible for the efficiency of exploitation and environmental protection (EP).

At the same time, the amended law also clarifies the responsibilities of state management agencies in basic geological surveys and the construction of a national geological resources database. Thanks to that, localities will have a unified and updated data source, avoiding spontaneous exploitation, overlapping or improper use of resources. This is considered a transition from "exploitation management" to "geological resource management", considering resources as resources that need to be used reasonably, serving long-term socio-economic development.

Solving the problem of material supply

For many years, Hue City has always been in a state of shortage of construction materials, especially fill soil, sand, and gravel for large traffic and infrastructure projects. Key projects and works such as the Cam Lo - La Son highway, Phong Dien - Dien Loc rescue road... sometimes lack materials, waiting for supply, affecting construction progress. In addition to subjective causes, objective causes are also due to old regulations, when the exploitation of fill materials is entangled with many procedures and overlapping authorities.

When the Law on Geology and Minerals (amended) is implemented, it will help supplement and regroup minerals more clearly, in which group IV includes hill soil, clay, sand... used as filling materials, foundation construction (except sand, gravel in riverbeds, lakes, seas) assigned to the province/city to grant mining licenses, serving urgent projects, key projects, public investment projects or public-private partnerships (PPP). This regulation helps localities proactively source materials on site, reduce transportation costs, shorten construction time, contribute to ensuring progress and efficiency of public investment...

The draft amended law also expands the scope of regulation to the field of processing and recovering minerals and renewable geological resources such as geothermal, natural hot water, and geological heritage. This is a new orientation to help localities have more directions for economic development from specific resources, not only exploiting raw materials but also increasing added value, developing geological tourism and renewable energy.

Along with decentralization, the Law on Geology and Minerals (amended) also adds many regulations on the application of clean technology, environmentally friendly materials, promoting the development of a circular economic model in mineral exploitation and processing. Accordingly, mining enterprises must use advanced technology, save energy, limit emissions and reuse mining waste.

Article and photos: Song Minh

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/kinh-te/khoi-thong-diem-nghen-trong-khai-thac-khoang-san-160387.html