In March 2026, Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee Le Huyen concluded a meeting on the implementation of inspection, examination, and audit conclusions related to the field of minerals in the province.
Previously, in August 2025, the Provincial Inspectorate issued a conclusion on the management of exploration, survey, planning, licensing, exploitation and transportation at construction material mines.
One of the notable contents is the handling of violations for exploiting exceeding capacity to serve expressway projects.
According to the inspection conclusion, VNCN E&C Construction and Technical Investment Joint Stock Company exploited at Van Hung soil mine (Ha Gia village, Van Hung commune, former Van Ninh district) exceeding the licensed reserves.
The total allowable exploitation reserve is 214,886 m3 in the period from December 2023 to July 2025, but according to the enterprise's report as of May 21, 2025, 291,911 m3 have been exploited.
Similarly, Lizen Joint Stock Company at Hung Tay soil mine (Van Hung commune) also exploited beyond the permitted capacity. The licensed capacity is 454,890 m3/year, while the declared output of natural resource tax and environmental protection fees in 2023 reached 1,045,088 m3.
In addition, Hien Vinh Co., Ltd. also shows signs of exceeding capacity when the exploitation output in 2022 reached 123,847.4 m3, while the licensed capacity is 78,000 m3/year.
Explaining to the inspection agency, businesses said that the exceeding capacity stemmed from the request to shorten the construction time of expressway projects. However, the units affirmed that they did not exceed the total reserves according to the confirmation.
According to the conclusion of Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee Le Huyen, the acceleration of construction is to implement the Prime Minister's direction with the spirit of "3 shifts, 4 crews", "overcoming sunshine, winning rain" to soon complete component projects such as the Van Phong - Nha Trang section of the North - South expressway in the East, as well as the "500 days and nights" campaign to complete key national projects.
Therefore, the handling of violations needs to be considered comprehensively, avoiding contradictions between the requirement to accelerate progress and regulations on mineral exploitation. If administrative penalties are imposed in this case, it may turn the "achievement" of accelerating progress into a "violation" exceeding capacity.
However, provincial leaders also emphasized that, in order to have a basis not to impose penalties, it is necessary to determine that the entire volume of minerals exploited exceeding capacity must be used correctly for expressway projects and not put on the market for commercial purposes.
The Department of Agriculture and Environment, the Provincial Inspectorate and local authorities are assigned to coordinate with the Expressway Project Management Board to inspect, cross-check and confirm in writing the volume of materials used.
In case businesses take advantage of this mechanism to consume minerals abroad, they will be strictly handled according to regulations.
For Hien Vinh Co., Ltd., the Department of Agriculture and Environment is assigned to conduct specific inspections. If not subject to administrative sanctions, functional agencies will notify the enterprise, and at the same time request adjustment of the exploitation plan, ensuring compliance with the correct capacity in the following years, and preventing recurrence of violations.
