Việt Nam News

HCM City People's Committee Chairman, Nguyễn Thanh Phong, has asked the police investigation office to investigate and prosecute illegal sand mining cases in the Cần Giờ sea area.

Mekong Delta traffic bottlenecks need to be soon removed to unleash the full potential of the region considered one of the country’s ‘key economic zones.’

Xuan Tai Company in the Highland province of Kon Tum was fined VND40 million ($1,769) for illegal sand exploitation, said Chief Inspector of the Department of Environment and Natural Resource Tran Cong Hau yesterday.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked the provinces of Tây Ninh, Bình Dương and Bình Phước to suspend sand mining operations at Dầu Tiếng Reservoir, following an order from the Government.

Sand mining activities of Thái Sơn Development & Investment JSC in northern Phú Thọ Province have alledgedly led to serious erosion and subsequent loss of farmland, leading to public concerns.

 The central province’s environmental department has ordered three titanium exploitation companies to suspend their operations which have gone on for the last three years despite expired licences.

The many mineral exploitation projects in the central region of Việt Nam, either those legally licensed or unauthorised ones, have made a tangible impact on farmlands, particularly in the central provinces of Bình Định and Quảng Nam.

Increased awareness of the negative impacts of sand mining has sparked public outrage of late, but it has proceeded apace.

All dredging and sand exploitation operation on Đồng Nai River are illegal, the People’s Committee of Đồng Nai Province affirmed at a meeting on sand mining management on Tuesday.

The southern Đồng Nai Province’s transport department on Thursday ordered four sand mining and dredging projects in the region to suspend operations.

 The Vietnamese legal framework and policies regarding transparency in the mining sector is "fairly comprehensive", however, implementation of such policies leaves a lot to be desired, according to a study by the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

Illegal sand mining still takes place along Bến Hải river in the central province of Quảng Trị in spite of efforts of local authorities, causing great public concern among residents for years.

Multilple issues are plaguing dredging projects on the Đồng Nai River Lax licencing, negligent supervision, lack of co-ordination between exploiters, ‘sand mining pirates’ free roaming without much hinder, leading to environmental damages and mounting local residents’ aggravation.

Too many hydropower projects, poor environmental impact assessments of their dams, and overexploitation of sand are haunting Hội An City and surrounding areas.