Illegal sand mining in border areas is still complicated.

On July 26, in Can Gio district, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee held a Conference to review the Project on Prevention and Control of Illegal Sand Mining in Can Gio Sea and the border areas between Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces for the period 2019-2022 and to deploy the Project for the period 2023-2026.

Mr. Ngo Minh Chau, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee speaking at the Conference

Handled 365 cases of illegal mining

According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City, the explored sand reserves in the river and sea areas of Ho Chi Minh City are more than 35.8 million m3, most of which are located in 11 sand mines on Can Gio beach. Specifically, Can Gio beach has a large reserve of saline sand (used as sand for filling) of about 35 million m3.

Mr. Ngo Minh Chau, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee said: In recent years, the provinces in the Southeast and Southwest regions in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular have experienced strong urbanization and economic development, leading to a sharp increase in demand for landfill materials and construction materials in the region.

In fact, from the survey, the reserves of construction sand and sand for filling are not enough to meet the construction needs in the city and neighboring provinces. In parallel, there is a policy of restricting mineral exploitation and strengthening control over the licensing of sand for filling and construction by the Central Government, the Southern provinces in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular. The above two factors create a huge gap between the demand and supply of raw materials.

According to Mr. Ngo Minh Chau, illegal sand mining and trading activities are currently considered to be extremely profitable, with little investment. Therefore, illegal sand miners use all means to deal with the authorities, ready to fight back fiercely, sink their vehicles to escape, thereby making management difficult.

According to Colonel Pham Van Thang, Deputy Commander of the HCM City Border Guard Command, there are times every day when there are about 8-12 barges with a capacity of 500 to 1,000 tons illegally mining sand in the Can Gio sea area. Illegal sand miners are very sophisticated, mainly operating in the dark from 9pm to 4am the next morning, taking advantage of the conditions of big waves and strong winds, often choosing locations 6-10 nautical miles offshore bordering the sea area of Ho Chi Minh City with neighboring provinces. Illegal sand mining vehicles are usually large-capacity barges, designed to withstand waves and winds, with discharge nozzles at the bottom to escape sand when detected by authorities.

At the same time, during the exploitation process, these subjects are always observed and on guard. When they detect that the authorities are deploying patrol and control forces, they notify the subjects to withdraw the pump, discharge sand into the sea, and flee to neighboring provinces.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh My, Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City, as a result of the implementation of the Project on Prevention and Control of Illegal Sand Mining in the Can Gio Sea and the border areas between Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces in the period of 2019-2022, Ho Chi Minh City's functional forces have arrested and handled 365 cases of "sand bandits" and confiscated 208 vehicles and exhibits, 65,000m3 of sand and imposed a fine of about 6 billion VND.

An illegal sand mining vehicle was seized by Ho Chi Minh City authorities.

Continue to strengthen inter-provincial coordination

Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh My, also said that during the implementation of the Project, the units also encountered many difficulties. Regarding the handling work, Ho Chi Minh City currently lacks places to temporarily hold evidence and means of violation, causing difficulties in keeping and preserving evidence and means of violation; sanctions for illegal buying, selling, transporting, storing and consuming of minerals, although increased, are not enough to deter.

Illegal sand miners have many behaviors to deal with the authorities, are reckless in opposing the law enforcement forces, and are ready to fight back with force. They also use loopholes in the issuance of invoices and tracing the origin of transported sand to deal with the inspection of the authorities through mining, purchasing, transportation contracts, invoices, and documents available from sand mines in the Western provinces. In addition, the lack and slow investment in automatic monitoring systems (AIS) has also limited the ability to detect illegal sand mining activities at sea early.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh My, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment, spoke.

Therefore, according to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh My, to improve the effectiveness of the Project for the period 2023-2026, Ho Chi Minh City needs to continue to control the origin of construction sand and leveling sand at construction material trading sites, especially the management of tax invoices for the purchase and sale of sand and gravel to prevent the purchase of invoices and legalize documents.

A key proposed solution is to soon deploy the construction of a Border Control Station at sea (on a small platform scale), equipping it with means and techniques to serve patrol and inspection work, while simultaneously performing the task of guarding and protecting the sovereignty of the sea and islands.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dat, Deputy Head of the Environmental Police Department (Ho Chi Minh City Police) said that in the coming time, the unit will effectively implement the Coordination Regulations and establish a "hotline" with the provinces. This is to collect information and documents on the activities of licensed mineral mines, reserves with mining rights, means of transport, consumption units, etc. to deploy professional measures, strengthen the work of grasping the situation and promptly detect methods and tricks of buying and selling invoices to legalize the origin of illegal sand.

Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee awarded Certificates of Merit to collectives that successfully implemented the Project on Prevention and Control of Illegal Sand Mining in Can Gio Sea and Border Areas Between Ho Chi Minh City and Other Provinces in the 2019-2022 Period.

Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Ngo Minh Chau suggested that it is necessary to continue reviewing overlapping regulations; propose to supplement and replace regulations that are not suitable to the practical situation; adjust the regime and policies to support forces participating in inspection and prevention of illegal sand mining; strengthen propaganda and dissemination of legal regulations in the field of minerals. In particular, it is necessary to continue to strengthen coordination and information sharing between localities to communes and wards bordering Ho Chi Minh City, strengthen coordination with functional forces...

Also at the Conference, the leader of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee also requested the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to study which areas can exploit sand for site leveling and submit it to the City People's Committee for consideration and comments; at the same time, requested the Department of Construction to survey the demand for sand in construction projects and propose solutions to meet the demand...

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