ĐẮK NÔNG — Đắk Nông Province People’s Committee will take back nearly 2,000ha of forestry land in Tuy Đức District that was encroached upon by locals.

The land belonged to companies carrying out agricultural and forestry projects and forestry enterprises in the district.

The information was revealed on Tuesday by Ngô Xuân Lộc, chief of the secretariat of the provincial People’s Committee.

The land will then be assigned to local authorities to manage and use based on present law.

Four enterprises must give back land – Kiến Trúc Mới (New Architecture) Construction Joint Stock Company with 679.3ha, Long Sơn Trade and Investment Co Ltd with 751.6ha, No 59 SConstruction and Investment Joint Stock Company with 554ha, and Nam Tây Nguyên (South Central Highlands) Forestry Co Ltd with 130ha.

Earlier, Đắk Nông People’s Committee let the companies lease the land to conduct agricultural and forestry projects. However, the land was subsequently encroached upon by locals. The companies were unable to resolve the case, so they volunteered to return the land to local authorities.

Đắk Nông Province currently has 43 agricultural and forestry projects with total area of some 33,000ha. But so far, the projects have not been very effective, with many areas destroyed and conflicts taking place causing public disorder.

Taking back the land and allocating it to local authorities is part of the efforts of the provincial People’s Committee in forest and resident management. — VNS