Procrastination in paying environmental deposit debt, many provinces do not fulfill their responsibilities

Many provinces have not yet demarcated and approved areas where mineral activities are prohibited.

The State Audit Office determined that by the end of 2021, 6/11 audited localities had not yet demarcated and approved prohibited areas, temporarily banning mineral activities.

There are 8 localities that approved before the 2010 Mineral Law took effect, but have not yet completed the re-approval procedures, and many localities are slow in demarcating and approving prohibited areas, temporarily banning mineral activities.

Regarding the delimitation of areas not subject to auction of mineral exploitation rights, the State Audit Office stated that Binh Phuoc province had issued a Decision but it was no longer appropriate and the province had issued 5 additional Decisions delimiting areas not subject to auction, but did not clearly state the criteria for areas not subject to auction.

Phu Tho province is slow to advise the Provincial People's Committee to approve the demarcation of areas where mineral exploitation rights are not auctioned and to advise on approval of sand mines that do not comply with regulations.

Binh Dinh province has not yet consulted on adding mining points to the auction area; Thua Thien - Hue province has shortcomings in consulting and approving areas where mineral exploitation rights are not auctioned...

Debt for environmental restoration deposit is over 100 billion VND

The State Audit Office believes that when calculating the refund of costs for using the results of mineral potential assessment and mineral exploration invested by the State, the General Department of Geology and Minerals has not handled violations when units in many localities did not fully pay the refund of costs.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment did not issue documents requiring provinces to report the results of cost reimbursement for synthesis according to regulations, and 60/63 provinces also did not send information approving the results of determining the cost reimbursement for mineral exploitation licenses issued by the province.

Many units are ready to deposit funds for environmental improvement and restoration in mineral exploitation. Photo: Hoang Chau — Some units have not yet deposited funds for environmental improvement and restoration in mineral exploitation. Photo: Hoang Chau

As of December 31, 2021, units in many localities still owed 98.52 billion VND in environmental resource tax and nearly 56.67 billion VND in environmental protection fees. The total amount of environmental restoration deposits that 10 provinces have not paid as of December 31, 2021 is nearly 117.75 billion VND.

However, there has been no case of any organization or individual being penalized for not depositing or not fully depositing funds for environmental improvement and restoration as prescribed.

Regarding the General Department of Geology and Minerals, the State Audit Office said that this agency has not yet issued a decision to sanction violations that fall under the warning penalty. It has not yet determined the amount of money equivalent to the value of consumed minerals that must be confiscated according to the Administrative Violation Penalty Decision No. 138 dated February 26, 2021.

By the end of the audit, the violations of the units discovered by the inspection team of the General Department of Geology and Minerals in the provinces had not yet been handled.

Advisory agencies have not fulfilled their responsibilities.

Also within the framework of this audit, the State Audit Office assessed the implementation of state management functions at advisory agencies in the provinces in the management of mineral resources.

The results showed that the advisory agency in Thai Nguyen province has not fully performed its responsibilities in the process of rotation and proposed handling, leading to the failure to issue a penalty decision due to the expiration of the term; has not fully implemented the regulations of the Provincial People's Committee, as well as has not fully performed its advisory function as prescribed.

In Thua Thien - Hue province, the advisory agency performed the task of "Receiving, presiding over the appraisal of dossiers, organizing the calculation of fees for granting mineral exploitation rights, submitting to the Provincial People's Committee for approval of fees for granting mineral exploitation rights of enterprises under its authority in the Economic Zone" when it had not been assigned the task by the Provincial People's Committee.

Meanwhile, in Binh Dinh province, the advisory agency issued an inspection plan and implemented the inspection plan inconsistently with its functions and tasks and did not promptly report to the Provincial People's Committee to direct competent agencies to promptly handle errors and shortcomings of mineral exploitation enterprises discovered through inspection.

Binh Dinh Provincial Tax Department issued a decision to extend the inspection period in Decision No. 942 dated June 25, 2021, 14 days later than prescribed, and decided to impose an administrative penalty on a mineral exploitation company but at an incorrect level of the prescribed penalty.

The Ha Giang Provincial Tax Department did not detect any errors by Son Hai Cooperative, which had been mining sand since 2017 - without a license - with the declared output according to the Environmental Protection Fee settlement being 5,722m3 of sand.

The State Audit also said that many localities do not have close coordination between units in mineral resource management, especially the coordination between the Tax Department and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in the provinces of Thua Thien - Hue, Cao Bang, Phu Tho, Binh Dinh, Binh Phuoc, Ha Giang, and Thai Binh.

Due to the lack of close coordination, the General Department of Geology and Minerals could not prepare a report on the state management of minerals nationwide in accordance with regulations. Therefore, the State Audit Office requested the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to rectify this work.

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