Quickly check and handle illegal leveling and construction in Phia Dam village, Thai Nguyen province

Recently, in Phia Dam village, Bang Thanh commune, Thai Nguyen province, Ngoc Linh Limited Liability Company arbitrarily leveled, renovated the ground, and opened roads through many forest areas without permission from the competent authority. The illegal leveling has signs of destroying forest land, affecting clean water projects, forest land and people's lives.

On an area of ​​more than 3 hectares of land leveled and filled without approved documents for land use change, the company has built many houses and factories. (Photo: TUAN SON)

Massive leveling

Phia Dam is one of the disadvantaged villages in Bang Thanh commune, about 250km from the administrative center of Thai Nguyen province. The peaceful life of Phia Dam people began to be disrupted when, from April 2025, Ngoc Linh Limited Liability Company (the company) massively leveled and renovated the land on many areas of forestry land in the village.

Mr. D.VN, a villager, said, “I have several thousand square meters of forestry land that I am cultivating corn on and planting forests on every year. However, recently, the company suddenly leveled and filled hundreds of square meters of my land without any notice or agreement with me.

Mr. D.VN said that after discovering the incident, he went to meet the company to clarify the matter and the company agreed to compensate him at a price of 70 thousand VND/ ^m2 . The incident seemed to have ended, but on October 20, Mr. N discovered that the company continued to level and fill some more of his family's land.

At the scene of the incident in the Phia Lan hill area, the company leveled and widened the trail to about 3 meters, and the soil after leveling was thrown down onto the negative slope.

On an area of ​​more than 3 hectares of leveled forestry land, the company has built 11 large-scale factories.

In this area, many cars, excavators, bulldozers, etc. are gathered. On the high hill, the company has built a transformer station.

Without any relevant documents or procedures as required, the company has built and installed a transformer station in an area that has been leveled and filled with land. (Photo: TUAN SON)

In particular, in the Lung Che hill area, the company has opened a road about 2km long from Phia Dam, through many production forest areas of the people towards Pac Nam village.

According to Phia Dam Village Chief Hoang Thong Trinh, the company's leveling work has been carried out on the land of 6 households in the village for a long time.

According to Pac Nam Village Chief Pham Van Nhat, the company's road construction from Phia Dam to Pac Nam crushed some water pipes of Pac Nam villagers. This caused a lack of water supply, affecting the lives of 30 households in the village. Currently, the company has fixed the problem for the villagers.

According to Mr. Nhat, the village does not know how the company negotiates with households on compensation prices because the company works and negotiates separately with each household.

Need to check and handle seriously

It is known that on October 6, 2023, the People's Committee of the former Bac Kan province issued Decision No. 1812/QD-UBND approving the policy and approving the investor for Ngoc Linh Limited Liability Company to implement the Investment project to build a project to exploit and process lead-zinc ore in the Phia Dam-Khuoi Man area, Bang Thanh commune, Pac Nam district (now Bang Thanh commune, Thai Nguyen province).

According to the provisions of this decision, to implement the project, the company must complete the design procedures, environmental impact assessment, and licensing of mining and land exploitation before constructing the mine and proceeding with mineral exploitation.

However, in reality, without completing these procedures, the company has massively leveled the land, arbitrarily opened roads, and arbitrarily agreed to compensate households without permission from competent authorities.

Since April 2025, the company has started leveling the site, but as of September 19, the People's Committee of Bang Thanh commune has not yet received any relevant documents and procedures from the company that have been appraised, approved and licensed by the competent authority.

The company leveled the land without permission, showing signs of land destruction and converting the purpose of forest land use to traffic land but without any records or procedures for converting the purpose of forest use to other purposes approved by competent authorities. The leveled area at the end of August 2025 was about ^5,000m2 .

A section of the road the company arbitrarily opened through forest land from Phia Dam village to Pac Nam village. (Photo; TUAN SON)

According to information from the People's Committee of Bang Thanh commune, as of September 19, the company had not yet provided relevant documents approved by competent authorities but had arbitrarily leveled, built camps, and opened roads, causing frustration for local people; affecting domestic water sources and irrigation; and heavy-duty vehicles damaged rural roads.

From August 21, 2025, after inspection, the People's Committee of Bang Thanh commune requested the company to immediately stop all activities of leveling, opening roads, constructing, and installing project items until completing the procedures and documents according to regulations.

However, the company did not stop the leveling but continued to ignore the instructions of Bang Thanh commune, continuing to implement many items in a way that "does not require permission, does not require a license". By October 20, the area leveled and cleared for roads had reached more than 3 hectares on forestry land.

This expansion of leveling and filling has directly affected more than 33,200 ^{square meters} of forest land of 8 households in Phia Dam village and 7,500 ^{square meters of} forest land of 19 households in Pac Nam village.

According to the reporter's investigation, the company arbitrarily agreed to compensate these households to carry out land leveling but has not been appraised or approved by competent authorities, especially regarding the change of land use purpose.

Meanwhile, according to information from Forest Protection Department No. 1, the location for leveling and constructing auxiliary works of the company has an area of ​​3.2 hectares in forest lots 8, 18, 19, 21, 24, 25, 26, compartment 8, sub-area 7, production forest planning.

The road opening location has an average width of 7m, the route length is nearly 2km, passing through 17 forest land lots. Of which, there are 10 planned production forest lots which are natural forests; 3 planned production forest lots which are planted forests; 1 planned agricultural land lot; 1 planned vacant land lot; 3 lots which are not planned forestry.

The company's road through the forest land of 18 households in Pac Nam village was built through mutual agreement with the households. (Photo: TUAN SON).

At the time of checking the bulldozing site, a number of impacted, broken, and fallen trees were discovered in the planned forest plantation plot.

At the working session with the Interdisciplinary Team of Bang Thanh Commune on September 28, 2025, the company representative said that the company is carrying out procedures to apply for a mineral exploitation license and negotiating with households and individuals on compensation for land and assets on the land.

The company also confirmed that the road opening from Phia Dam to Pac Nam was due to the consent of households and individuals in the two villages who proposed the company to expand the road for convenient travel and economic development. At the same time, it is also convenient for the company to explore and implement the project.

The company admitted that as of September 28, the company had not yet completed the procedures for requesting land recovery and applying for construction permits for road opening, site leveling, and construction of mine auxiliary works.

Reality at the scene on October 20 shows that the company has stopped leveling activities, only a few workers are continuing to complete the camps and factories.

However, the leveling site and the number of factories show that the company has basically completed the leveling to create the ground. The road opened through the forest has also reached Pac Nam village, only a short distance to connect to the main road to the center of Bang Thanh commune.

The leveling incident in Phia Dam shows that Ngoc Linh Limited Liability Company has ignored the provisions of the law and the direction of the People's Committee of Bang Thanh commune.

Currently, the People's Committee of Bang Thanh commune has also reported to the Provincial People's Committee, the Provincial Police and the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thai Nguyen province, requesting inspection and handling.

TUAN SON

Source: https://nhandan.vn/som-kiem-tra-xu-ly-hanh-vi-san-ui-xay-trai-phep-o-thon-phia-dam-tinh-thai-nguyen-post916886.html