Resolving the scandal at Phu Thai Port (Kim Thanh) - Part 1: Illegal land occupation

Phu Thai Port, covering nearly 80,000 square meters, has been leased to three units for investment and business purposes. Photo: VAN TUAN

Where does the area increase?

Phu Thai Port is located on the outer bank of the dike on the right side of Kinh Mon River, from the east of An Thai Bridge extending downstream to Phu Thai Town (Kim Thanh). According to the documents we have, before being approved to establish a project for material transit, wharf, and port, this place was leased by some households in Kim Thanh District from Phu Thai Town People's Committee to produce fired bricks.

In the early 2000s, Mr. Dang Duc Chuc in Phu Thai town received the transfer of land use rights from Mr. Le Quang Tung, Mr. Do Van Thien and Mr. Nguyen Van Vinh, who were leasing a total area of ​​22,579 m2, adjacent to An Thai bridge. In February 2003, Mr. Chuc requested the People's Committee of Kim Thanh district to lease 44,000 m2 of land (including the land area Mr. Chuc received the transfer) to establish a site for material transit and ship repair. Later, Mr. Chuc requested to establish a project for a facility to repair and build new ships on this area.

Kim Thanh District People's Committee issued Decision No. 648/QD-UBND dated December 15, 2003 to reclaim 46,764 m2 of land at the above location, change the purpose of use to land lease for the project, and hand over the land to Mr. Chuc to implement the project. Of the total area above, 16,096 m2 of land was leased by Mr. Chuc for the project, 2,762 m2 for internal traffic roads, 27,906 m2 of bridge, dike and river corridors were temporarily handed over to Mr. Chuc for management and use according to the provisions of law on protection of corridors of specialized works.

After being allocated the land, Mr. Chuc authorized his son, Mr. Dang Hung Thang, Director of Thang Loi Mechanical Private Enterprise (now Thang Loi Mechanical Company Limited) to level the ground, build a boat dock, ramp, office, facilities, recruit workers... In 2008, Mr. Chuc continued to authorize Mr. Thang to sign transaction documents with partners related to the above project and the Phu Thai Inland Waterway Port project located inside the project, and directly manage production and business activities in the Phu Thai Port area to date.

Adjacent to Mr. Chuc's land downstream of Kinh Mon River is 11,800 m2 of Mr. Vu Van Chinh's land, which was leased by Phu Thai Town People's Committee for brick production. In 2007, The Anh Production and Trading Company Limited (abbreviated as The Anh Company) received the transfer of all of Mr. Chinh's land. After that, the company set up a project to change the land use purpose to a wharf for construction materials and a wharf business on an area of ​​12,404 m2 (including the area transferred from Mr. Chinh). On December 16, 2008, the Provincial People's Committee decided to reclaim and lease the land to The Anh Company to carry out the project. However, after 17 years, the actual handover of the land to The Anh Company could not be carried out due to objections from Mr. Chuc's business. On April 18, the People's Committee of Phu Thai town completed the site clearance and determined the boundary between The Anh Company and Mr. Chuc's ship repair and construction facility.

Adjacent to the land of The Anh Company on the Kinh Mon River bank is 3,070 m2 of public land managed by the People's Committee of Phu Thai town. At the end of Phu Thai Port area, there is more than 1,000 m2 of land managed by Hong Ha Cooperative. Mr. Chuc's ship repair and building facility makes all the internal traffic routes surrounding Phu Thai Port. There are 2 ways to Phu Thai Port: From the foot of An Thai bridge to Mr. Chuc's facility and from Kinh Mon river dike to Hong Ha Cooperative. Hong Ha Cooperative has a business cooperation with Mr. Chuc's ship repair and building facility.

According to the measurement results conducted by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (now the Department of Agriculture and Environment) in 2018, the current land area of ​​the project and Phu Thai Port area is 79,937 m2, including: 16,096 m2 rented by Mr. Chuc to implement the project, 24,292 m2 of land in the road corridor, 13,185 m2 of land in the dike protection corridor, 8,380 m2 of land in the riverbank protection corridor, 12,404 m2 rented by The Anh Company, 3,070 m2 of public land managed by the People's Committee of Phu Thai town, 2,510 m2 of internal traffic land and of Hong Ha Cooperative. Thus, in reality, Mr. Chuc's Ship Repair and Construction Facility is using a much larger land area than the total area of ​​leased land, land for business cooperation with Hong Ha Cooperative, and land for protecting bridge, dike, and river corridors temporarily assigned to Mr. Chuc by the government.

What is the cause?

A business that rents premises that Mr. Chuc's facility is illegally occupying from The Anh Company to gather coal.

The scandal that has lasted for decades and has not been resolved is the responsibility of a number of departments, branches and sectors of Hai Duong province, Kim Thanh District People's Committee and Phu Thai Town People's Committee. According to Decision No. 648/QD-UBND dated December 15, 2003 of Kim Thanh District People's Committee, Mr. Dang Duc Chuc only rented 16,096 m2 of land for the Project of Repair and Construction of New Ships, the north bordering Kinh Mon River, the west bordering An Thai Bridge, the south bordering Kinh Mon right embankment, the east bordering Mr. Vu Van Chinh's land and the land managed by Phu Thai Town People's Committee.

However, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (now the Department of Agriculture and Environment) advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Decision No. 162/QD-UBND dated January 13, 2004, allowing Mr. Dang Duc Chuc to establish a site to implement the project from km16 + 150 to km16 + 450, equivalent to almost the entire Phu Thai Port today, covering the land of Mr. Vu Van Chinh (later transferred to The Anh Company), land managed by the People's Committee of Phu Thai town and land of Hong Ha Cooperative.

Although not allocated land, when Decision No. 162 was issued, Mr. Dang Hung Thang, Director of Thang Loi Mechanical Company Limited - authorized by Mr. Chuc, prepared a dossier to apply for a license to establish an inland waterway port. In August 2008, the Vietnam Inland Waterways Administration (then the Vietnam Inland Waterways Administration, now the Vietnam Maritime and Waterways Administration) announced Phu Thai Inland Port with a 300m port extension as in Decision No. 162.

To allocate land to The Anh Company, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (now the Department of Agriculture and Environment) advised the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee to issue Decision No. 4778/QD-UBND dated December 16, 2008 to reclaim and change the purpose of use of 12,404 m2 of land for this enterprise. This land area corresponds to km16 + 375 to km16 + 450 of the right dike of Kinh Mon River, which means it overlaps 75 m with Mr. Chuc's project according to Decision No. 162. At that time, Phu Thai Inland Waterway Port had been announced and was under the management and exploitation of Mr. Chuc.

This incident also involved the responsibility of Mr. Dang Hung Thang, Director of Thang Loi Mechanical Company Limited - the person authorized by Mr. Dang Duc Chuc to carry out some activities of the Ship Repair and Construction Facility when preparing the application for an inland waterway port license. Although he was not assigned the land of Mr. Vu Van Chinh, the land managed by the People's Committee of Phu Thai town, Mr. Thang still prepared the application based on Decision 162 to apply for a license for Phu Thai Inland Waterway Port, thereby illegally occupying the above land for many years.

SY THANG - HA VY

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/xu-ly-dut-diem-lum-xum-tai-cang-phu-thai-kim-thanh-bai-1-chiem-dung-dat-trai-phep-411393.html