Land waste due to high-tech agricultural project not implemented for 6 years

A corner of 60 hectares of FAM Quang Tri project has been cleared but the enterprise has not yet implemented it, so people take advantage of it to plant acacia trees - Photo: LE TRUONG

6 years of implementation but only the ground has been weathered

The FAM Quang Tri project was approved for investment by the Provincial People's Committee in June 2018, and adjusted the investment policy for the first time a year later for implementation. On an area of ​​about 200 hectares in Sub-areas 764 and 765 in Cam Tuyen commune, Cam Lo district, the project investor is FAM Quang Tri Agricultural Products Production and Import-Export Trading Company Limited under FLC Group, which plans to invest about 371 billion VND to build the project. With the goal of forming a large-scale agricultural production area with high technology, automation, and mechanization to serve domestic consumption and export needs; preserving, pre-processing, and processing agricultural products using new technology.

After the investment policy was approved, the enterprise coordinated with local authorities to carry out procedures to change the purpose of forest use, replant forests, and advance more than 5.2 billion VND to clear the land (GPMB) for about 60 hectares. According to the commitment, FAM Quang Tri Agricultural Products Production and Import-Export Trading Company Limited will put the project into operation and production from April 2019, with the first adjustment to October 2020. However, the enterprise then only organized the leveling and weathering of the GPMB area and then stopped construction until now.

According to the leader of Cam Lo District People's Committee, up to now, the project has been behind schedule for more than 6 years compared to the first approval and 4.5 years compared to the first adjusted deadline. Although the locality has repeatedly urged and requested the investor to complete the additional funding to support the remaining area of ​​land acquisition and compensation to pay the affected families to delimit the project, the enterprise has not implemented it.

Therefore, some households in Cam Tuyen commune have taken advantage of planting acacia trees on the project land to avoid wasting land use. This has caused many difficulties for land management as well as ensuring security and order in the project area. Although the local government and organizations have repeatedly propagated, mobilized, recorded and enforced, this situation has not ended yet.

Party Secretary and Chairman of Cam Tuyen Commune People's Committee Nguyen Anh Tuan said that currently, there are about 50 households planting acacia trees on 60 hectares of cleared land under the project and this acacia area is also several years old. Because the project land is left fallow year after year, while people lack land for production, at night, people secretly plant acacia trees.

However, with the desire not to let the land go to waste, people have taken advantage of planting acacia trees. If the project continues to be implemented, people are willing to return the land. The local government has repeatedly proposed a solution to this FAM Quang Tri project, because if it cannot be implemented, the land needs to be recovered and handed over to the locality for management and granted to people for cultivation.

Proposal to terminate the project to avoid land waste

According to information from the Department of Finance, the FAM Quang Tri Project still has many related procedures after the investment policy has been approved but has not been implemented. For example, appraisal of the feasibility study report, basic design, construction drawing design, fire prevention and fighting work, construction permit issuance...

Although the investor assessed this as a feasible project and wished to continue implementing it with commitments on plans and coordination plans with experienced and capable strategic partners; at the same time, many times cited reasons and continued to request extensions of reporting times for implementation plans, in reality, the enterprise was not really active, proactive and lacked determination in implementing the project.

Specifically, there is no evidence of the application to continue to extend the investment implementation progress according to regulations; there is no proposal on construction progress, time for the project to be put into operation; the deposit to ensure project implementation has not been completed; there are no response documents and no implementation of the committed contents requested by the state agency; procrastination, delay, repeated commitments and prolongation of reporting time to local authorities. Meanwhile, the expected land use scale of the project is relatively large with about 200 hectares, many investment items need time to construct and complete.

On that basis, recently, on April 15, the Department of Finance sent a document to the Provincial People's Committee proposing a solution for the FAM Quang Tri Project to completely resolve the outstanding issues of this project, contributing to the effective management and use of land funds, ensuring security and order in the area where the project is expected to be implemented.

Specifically, the Department of Finance proposed to consider and agree in principle to terminate the entire FAM - Quang Tri High-Tech Agricultural Zone Project. Thereby, the unit has a basis to carry out the procedures to terminate the project according to regulations.

In addition, it is recommended that the People's Committee of Cam Lo district manage and have a suitable and effective plan for the 60 hectares of land that have been cleared; actively attract other investors to study and propose the implementation of prospective projects. At the same time, the locality continues to contact FAM Quang Tri Agricultural Products Production and Import-Export Trading Company Limited to refund the amount of more than 351 million VND that has not been disbursed in the land clearance.

Deputy Director of the Department of Finance Le Thi Thuong said: FAM Quang Tri project is one of many key projects of the province, which was approved by the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee for implementation. During the implementation process, departments, branches and Cam Lo district authorities as well as people in the affected area agreed and actively supported the investor in steps to quickly complete the project.

However, due to many objective and subjective reasons, the investor has been too slow in implementing the project. This is regrettable, however, we will consider and compare the regulations thoroughly on the feasibility and capacity of the investor. From there, propose the optimal solution to create conditions for other projects, ensure the socio-economic development process of the province, avoid wasting land resources, and lose the trust of the people.

Le Truong

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/lang-phi-dat-dai-vi-du-an-nong-nghiep-cong-nghe-cao-6-nam-chua-trien-khai-193025.htm