Sand mine auction prices increase "fysously", businesses struggle
This confusing difference not only causes businesses and people to fall into a difficult situation when there is a need to buy sand, but also raises a series of questions about the management and regulation of the market by authorities in Da Nang.
Son Sau Sang Production and Construction Company Limited in Que Son commune, Da Nang city is a partner supplying fresh concrete for many key projects in the locality. However, the company is currently only able to maintain 10 concrete trucks, 4 trucks carrying sand and stone per day - an unprecedented level of operation.
"We are trying to maintain it to pay wages and insurance for the workers. Each block of sand is bought as gold, because it is too scarce. The price of sand has skyrocketed from 250,000 VND/m3 to 650,000 VND/m3, some places even offer up to 700,000 VND/m3 but there are still no goods" - Mr. Cao Truong Son, Director of the company said bitterly.
A similar situation occurred at Hiep Hung Concrete One Member Co., Ltd., Dai Loc commune, Da Nang city, Mr. Nguyen Van Quang - Director of the company said: "The sand warehouse is about to run out, in a few days we will have to announce that we will stop supplying fresh concrete to customers. This is an irresistible situation, stemming from a supply disruption".
The paradox is even more obvious when Da Nang is a locality with large reserves of sand and gravel with dozens of planned mines. However, most of the mines have expired or have not completed licensing procedures. In recent times, the locality has actively auctioned mineral exploitation rights at many 6 mines, most recently 3 sand mines in Dai Loc commune all recorded record high winning bids.
The DL2 sand mine (Dai Thang commune) has a reserve of 790,000m3, with a starting price of more than 7.5 billion VND, and won the auction for more than 491 billion VND (equivalent to 622,000 VND/m3). DL11 mine (Dai Dong commune) has a reserve of 360,000m3, starting price of more than 3.46 billion VND, winning nearly 320 billion VND (888,000 VND/m3). DL12B1 mine (Dai Quang commune) has a reserve of 166,000m3, starting price of more than 1.23 billion VND, winning more than 129 billion VND (779,000 VND/m3).
The above winning auction price does not include resource tax, environmental fee, legal costs, investment in machinery, infrastructure, etc.
A representative of a winning bidder admitted: The bidder must take strong auctions to keep market share.As for profit or loss, we wait for the future.
However, experts are concerned that the auction winning price is too high, which will push the construction sand market price up further.This puts great pressure on public projects and civil works and pushes contractors to the brink of bankruptcy.
Quang Ngai becomes a supply hot spot
Sand prices in Da Nang and the Central Highlands have increased sharply in recent months, causing businesses and individuals to flock to Quang Ngai to buy. With abundant reserves and stable prices, Quang Ngai has become the leading supply source in the region. However, attractive profits can easily lead to illegal sand mining to sell to other localities.
According to the People's Committee of Son Tinh commune, in recent years, the situation of sand mining in Truong Xuan village, where there are many sandbanks along the Tra Khuc river, has become very complicated.
Recently, the People's Committee of Son Tinh commune coordinated with the Commune Police... to bury dozens of concrete pillars on residential roads opened by illegal sand miners, in order to prevent the transportation and exploitation of illegal sand.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Bui Van Cu - Deputy Director of the Department of Construction of Quang Ngai province - said that according to current regulations, it is impossible to prohibit businesses that have won the auction for the right to exploit and sell sand outside the province, nor to prevent businesses outside the province from buying sand. However, the price and supply of construction sand in Quang Ngai are still being controlled and kept stable. The Department of Construction also requires mine owners to publicly post prices at the exploitation site, absolutely do not arbitrarily adjust the selling price.
According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Quang Ngai province, the whole province currently has 135 mineral mines that have been licensed and are under exploitation. Of which, the eastern region has 74 mines, the western region has 64 mines. There are 37 mines that have won the auction for mineral exploitation rights and are in the process of completing legal procedures to be officially granted an exploitation license. Currently, the price of construction sand at some mines in the central area of Quang Ngai province fluctuates around 300,000 VND/m3.
Prosecution of 6 defendants for colluding to increase the auction price for sand mining rights
"The Economic Police Department of Da Nang City Police said that regarding the sand mine auction, which increased from the starting price of 1.2 billion VND to more than 370 billion VND, occurring at the sand mine marked GDP2B (Dien Ban Tay commune, Da Nang city), after expanding the investigation, the unit has issued decisions to prosecute 4 more defendants to investigate the crime of violating regulations on property auction activities. To date, 6 defendants have been prosecuted. According to the investigation results, under the direction of Nguyen Si Khoa (51 years old, in Cam Le ward, General Director ofMT Quang Da Company, a group of 4 other defendants, including Khoa's son - agreed to increase the price when participating in the auction of mineral exploitation rights at the DB2B mine toMT Quang Da Joint Stock Company and Nong Son Farm Joint Stock Company".
