PHÚ YÊN – The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has decided to establish a team to inspect the use of forest land for other purposes in Phú Yên Province.

The team with six members, led by Đoàn Hải Nam, deputy head of the Forest Protection Department under the Việt Nam Administration of Forestry, will work in 30 days.

The provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, project owners and related units will be scrutinised.

The team will inspect documents and decisions of related units on the change in the use of land that were issued between 2012 and March 2017.

Earlier, the media reported that some 377ha of forest cover, including 273 hectares of natural forest land in zones 310 and 311 of Sông Hinh Commune in Sông Hinh District, were destroyed and handed over to the Thảo Nguyên Phú Yên Breeding Joint Stock Company to raise cows.

Lê Văn Hữu, former chairman of Phú Yên Province’s People’s Committee, visited the site and told Lao Động (Labour) newspaper he was extremely sad to see logs of wood being transported out of the forest.

Hữu and other former provincial officials reported the case to local authorities and proposed a halt of the projects.

Upon receiving the report, Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng asked Phú Yên Province’s People’s Committee to clarify why forest cover was destroyed to implement a high-quality cow breeding project.

He urged authorities to impose strict penalties according to laws and report the latest developments to Prime Minister Nguyến Xuân Phúc before April 20.

According to forest surveys, Phú Yên leads five coastal south central provinces in terms of reducing area of natural forest cover. The province’s forest area reduced by 3,715ha between 2015 and 2016. - VNS