Bãi Vọt-Hàm Nghi HIghway in Hà Tĩnh Province on North-South Expressway. Photo boahatinh.vn

HÀ TĨNH – The People’s Committee of Hà Tĩnh Province has approved the exploitation of 11 new mines to serve the construction of the North-South Expressway project in the 2021-2025 period, including a sand mine in Mỹ Yên Village.

The North-South Expressway is a key national project, passing through Cẩm Xuyên District of Hà Tĩnh Province with a total length of 30.5km.

In order to serve project construction, the district authority is preparing to implement the policy of exploiting sand mines in Mỹ Yên Village in Cẩm Mỹ Commune.

However, currently, many local people still oppose sand mining exploitation.

In addition to creating consensus among the people, local authorities actively coordinate with functional agencies to effectively implement measures to remove obstacles to accelerate the construction progress of the key project.

The provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment said that the North-South Expressway has three component projects passing through Hà Tĩnh Province including Bãi Vọt-Hàm Nghi, Hàm Nghi-Vũng Áng and Vũng Áng - Bùng with a total length of more than 102km.

The component projects require 1.09 million cu.m of sand and 11.4 million cu.m of soil.

In July, the provincial People's Committee approved the exploitation of 11 new material mines including eight levelled land mines and three river bottom sand mines to serve the construction of the North-South Expressway project in the east of the 2021-2025 period.

The sand mine in Mỹ Yên Village in Cẩm Mỹ Commune is a construction materials mine approved by the provincial People's Committee in Decision No 431/QĐ-UBND dated February 6, 2014 and integrated into the Hà Tĩnh Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050 according to Decision No 1363/QĐ-TTg dated November 8, 2022 by the Prime Minister.

The area of the sand mine in Mỹ Yên Village has a total area of nearly 3,479ha, of which nearly 1.7ha are production land owned by 86 households, and the remaining are land managed by the commune People's Committee, river land, fallow land, and mudflats.

The exploitation depth is equal to the current riverbed surface with a total exploitation volume of 89,196cu.m.

Lê Ngọc Hà, vice chairman of the People’s Committee of Cẩm Xuyên District, said that the Mỹ Yên Sand Mine is just exploited to serve the North-South Expressway project, not used for other purposes.

The State agencies take responsibility to confirm the assets (i.e. material mines), hire the construction units that won the bid for the North-South Expressway project to exploit and take materials (sand) to put into the project - the State's assets, by using excavators and transport vehicles to exploit, not using the sand suction method.

The State pays for exploitation and transportation to the mining unit.

“The exploitation process, means of transportation and transportation routes will be carefully monitored by surveillance equipment as well as strict management and supervision of local authorities and the community,” said Hà.

"Monitoring results will be announced transparently and updated regularly for people," he said.

According to the leaders of Cẩm Xuyên District, unlike commercial mining activities, the policy of exploiting sand mines in Mỹ Yên Village is based on the results of thorough appraisal and evaluation by functional agencies and sequential implementation by law.

Furthermore, the purpose of exploiting sand mines in the village is only to serve the construction of the North-South Expressway project, which is a key national project, playing an important role in socio-economic development, ensuring national security, and serving people's lives.

Participating units only receive exploitation and transportation costs according to specifically calculated volumes.

People’s lives ensured

At a dialogue conference between the chairman of the District People's Committee and the people of Mỹ Yên Village on sand mine exploitation to serve the North-South Expressway project, some households expressed their worries that the process of exploiting alluvial ground would cause landslides for farming land, and affect infrastructure works and people's daily water sources.

In response to people's worries and concerns, the chairman of Cẩm Xuyên District, Hà Văn Bình, affirmed that sand mine exploitation in Mỹ Yên Village is a key national task, satisfies legal basis, and has been comprehensively evaluated by all levels and sectors in both science and practice.

If the mining process shows signs of landslides or unsafety, construction will be forced to stop until there are measures approved by the competent authority, Bình said.

According to the appraisal and assessment results of relevant departments and branches, the location of the open-cast sand mine at the alluvial ground on the Ngàn Mọ River section through Mỹ Yên Village is far from the foot of National Highway 8C and will not affect the route, Bình said.

During the survey process, specialised agencies evaluated and agreed on specific measures to prevent landslides.

The exploitation’s depth is equal to the current river bottom, so it only widens the river but does not create a deep abyss and affect underground water sources for residential use.

In addition, the provincial People's Committee has just approved the clean water project phase 2 of Cẩm Mỹ Commune with a total investment capital of VNĐ11 billion (US$450,000), which is implemented this year, so it will definitely ensure sustainable clean water for people in the south of Cẩm Mỹ Commune in general, and people of Mỹ Yên Village in particular.

Compensation will be implemented on the basis of ensuring the rights and interests of the people. And the mining process will be informed to the people for supervision.

Mỹ Yên Sand Mine is a sand area with reserves and quality consistent with the technical requirements of the North-South Expressway’s construction items and ensures a transportation distance that helps minimise State investment costs for the project.

Therefore, the fact that some households deliberately delay sand mining in Mỹ Yên Sand Mine would slow down the progress of the project, causing loss of resources and adversely affecting the efficiency of the project.

The Party's Committee, People's Committee, and related agencies of Cẩm Xuyên District are persistently explaining the meaning and importance of the project and persuading people to agree to the sand exploitation in Mỹ Yên Village, Bình said. VNS