HCM CITY —  The Mekong Delta province of Kiên Giang’s People’s Committee has instructed inspection teams to impose severe fines on violators of laws on construction, land subdivision, and illegal deforestation.

Phú Quốc District in particular has faced rampant construction violations, including building without permits and illegal residential construction on farmland.

From August 2017 to April, the province checked 646 construction works in the island district, and of these, 358 were violating laws. Most of the offenders were in the communes of Cửa Cạn, Cửa Dương, Gành Dầu and Dương Tơ.  

The inspection team fined investors of 54 out of the checked 646 construction projects, while 196 others had to be demolished.

Of the total number, investors of 108 projects were required to ask for a permission licence from authorised agencies.

Lê Quốc Anh, director of the Kiên Giang Province’s Department of Construction and head of the inspection team, said the number of violations on construction and subdivision of farmland were rampant in the district.

However, local authorised agencies’ management of construction and land has been ineffective, he said, adding that they had not checked projects’land use regularly and had not imposed severe fines on violators.

PC Chairman Phạm Vũ Hồng told the Phú Quốc people’s committee and relevant authorities to strengthen management of land use more closely and draw up a detailed land plan and publish it.

In addition to construction violations, inspection teams also fined 14 out of 29 illegal deforestation and forest encroachment cases.

The area of damaged protective forest and special-use forest was discovered to total more than 53,500 square metres. In addition, the inspectors also found 43 hectares of forested land destroyed in a buffer zone.

Delayed projects

Phú Quốc District also has many delayed projects. Of the total 420, many have been delayed for at least 10 years, according to the Phú Quốc Economic Zone Management Board.

Among the delayed projects,178 have received investment licences. Sixty have completed procedures for investment, land use, and construction.

The lack of roads that connect to the projects has also caused delays, as well as the slow compensation payments to affected local residents.

Hồng told the management board to create favorable conditions for investors and speed up land clearance.

The board recommended withdrawing licences of 10 delayed projects on Phú Quốc Island.

It said that it would review projects that have been delayed since they were approved in 2007.

As of mid-June, the island had attracted 279 projects with a total area of 10,754 hectares.

Of these, 36 projects have been put into operation. Thirty-five are under construction. The rest are completing investment procedures. —VNS