Illegal shipbuilding facilities abound

(Baohatinh.vn) - There are dozens of boat repair facilities operating in Ha Tinh, but most of them do not have a business license.

The ship repair and building workshop of Ms. Hoang Thi Huyen (Hai Ha village, Ky Ha commune) has been operating in the storm shelter area for fishing boats in Ky Ha (Ky Anh town) for the past 15 years. With a fairly large workshop area and a well-invested system of equipment lines, the number of boats coming here for repair is very large. On average, each year, this shipyard receives nearly 500 boats for repair.

Illegal shipyard in the storm shelter area for fishing boats in Ky Ha (Ky Anh town).

Every time a boat is repaired at the workshop, if the damage is minor, it costs from 7 to 10 million VND, if the damage is major, the cost is up to tens or even hundreds of millions of VND. Accordingly, the annual revenue of Ms. Huyen's boat building workshop is up to tens of billions of VND.

It is worth mentioning that this factory (usually has 10 to 12 workers) does not have any license but still operates without permission. As a result, this facility not only violates the dike protection corridor, endangers labor safety but also causes tax losses.

Ms. Huyen said that the reason she does not have a business license is because the licensing conditions are very difficult. In addition, the land used for the ship repair workshop is currently rented from someone else. She herself really wants to be licensed to operate and wants to rent more land to expand production, but is waiting for the local government to handle the backlog of previous land leasing procedures...

Ky Ha commune authorities inspected a shipyard in the area.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Nguyen Ho Phuong - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ky Ha commune said that nearly 20 years ago, the local government leased the land to a resident of Ky Ha commune to build a boat repair and building workshop. Later, it was discovered that the land lease was beyond their authority, especially violating the Hai Ha dike corridor. However, because the resident had invested in building a workshop and equipment, the recovery and compensation of property was difficult. The government has inspected and assessed the current situation and propagated that no expansion would be allowed; in the coming time, a suitable land fund will be selected for relocation.

In Cam Nhuong commune (Cam Xuyen), the situation of illegal ship repair and building facilities is also quite common. Along the less than 1km length of Bac Hai sea dike, there are many spontaneous workshops of some local people.

For many years, the upstream slope of Bac Hai sea dike (Cam Nhuong commune) has become a gathering place for vehicles, tools, and materials for building and repairing ships.

It is known that initially, the owners of the establishments only used the alluvial area on the coast as a temporary site for repairing boats. However, due to the increasing demand for boat repairs by fishermen, during their operations, the owners of the boats arbitrarily encroached on the upstream slope of the Bac Hai dike. At present, the establishments here have even built structures and camps right on the dike body to serve as warehouses for repairing boats. It is worth mentioning that these workshops do not have operating licenses according to regulations. The owners of the establishments know that such acts are violations, but for immediate benefits, they still operate without permission.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hoang - Party Secretary, Chairman of Cam Nhuong Commune People's Council admitted that there are currently a number of illegal boat repair and building workshops in the area, arbitrarily encroaching on the Bac Hai dike. The local government has invited workshop owners to work and sign a commitment to dismantle them, but so far they have not been able to do so. In the coming time, after Cam Nhuong fishing port is completed and put into use, the locality will rectify and handle it.

Not only in Ky Anh and Cam Xuyen towns, the situation of illegal boat repair and building workshops operating is quite common in many other localities. It is worth mentioning that the incident has been going on for many years but the handling is still difficult.

The situation of illegal ship repair and building workshops is quite common in many localities.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Toan - Head of the Fisheries Exploitation Department ( Ha Tinh Fisheries Sub-Department, under the Department of Agriculture and Environment) said that in the whole province, there is currently only 1 shipyard that is qualified to be granted an operating license, the rest are in violation. The leaders of the Sub-Department have inspected the situation and requested the owners of ship repair and construction workshops to rectify in order to be granted a license. In the coming time, the unit will submit to the superior agency to amend and remove some regulations that are not really necessary to create conditions for people to complete the licensing procedures. The Sub-Department also recommends that at this time, people and workshop owners should not build new boats with a length of 15m or more because if they do, they will not be able to be granted an operating license.

Video : Ship repair and building workshop arbitrarily expands and encroaches on the dike roof.

Ha Tinh has 137km of coastline and more than 3,900 fishing boats operating, but there is currently only one qualified fishing boat building and repair facility in the area (Ben Thuy Shipbuilding Company Limited). Due to the daily demand for boat repair, fishing boat repair activities still take place at some traditional boat repair facilities in the area.

According to the regulations on conditions for fishing vessel building and repair facilities in Decree 26/2019/ND-CP of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Fisheries Law, it is very difficult for shipbuilding and repair facilities in the area (especially small-scale traditional shipbuilding facilities) to meet the prescribed criteria.

For example, regarding the premises criteria: according to regulations, a type III shipbuilding facility (allowing the construction or conversion of fishing boats with a maximum length of less than 15m) must ensure a sufficient premises area of ^{​​2,000m2} ; Type II facilities (allowing to build new, convert fishing boats with a maximum length of less than 24m) must have a floor area of ^{​​3,000m2} , type I facilities (building new, repairing all boats) is ^5,000m2 . In addition, there are other criteria such as: factory, human resources, located far from residential areas, ensuring water surface area for boats to anchor...

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