The project is currently suspended. According to the observation of the journalist, for a long time, there have been no trucks entering or leaving the project area.
Mr. Nguyễn Minh Tuấn – Secretary and Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Hanh Ward, Cẩm Phả City, Quảng Ninh Province – said that after the report of the press and the functional agencies intervened in early November 2023, the Urban Area Project at 10B Street, Quang Hanh Ward, Cẩm Phả City is still temporarily suspended.
The representative of the investor also stated that they have strictly implemented the instructions of the authorities at all levels to temporarily suspend the project until a new decision is made.
According to the decision approving the environmental impact assessment report of the Urban Area Project at 10B Street, Quang Hanh Ward of the People's Committee of Quảng Ninh Province, the total area of the project is approximately 31.8ha, including 3.88ha of the buffer zone of Hạ Long Bay.
The scale of the project includes: 451 villas and adjacent houses; building and completing the exterior of 52 villas. In addition, there are commercial and service projects, including 7-story hotels. The population scale is approximately 2,524 people.
However, as soon as it was implemented in the fourth quarter of 2023, this project has attracted public attention due to images of soil and stone being dumped into the infilling the sea.
The Quảng Ninh Province and Cẩm Phả City have intervened to re-examine the regulations and procedures for construction.
At the time of the on-site inspection, the project investor had not fully implemented the contents in the environmental impact assessment report approved by the People's Committee of Quảng Ninh Province at Decision No. 1614/QĐ-UBND dated June 15, 2023. Specifically, the investor is currently constructing a road approximately 1,000m long; the construction materials for the public road (entrance road to the project) are granite stones, the road surface is covered with crushed stone, the outer edge of the road at some sections is reinforced with granite stones, and the remaining sections, the investor directly dumps soil without measures to prevent mud rising, soil and stones flowing into the marine environment. Due to these violations, the investor was fined VND 125 billion.
The People's Committee of Cẩm Phả City also issued a document requesting the suspension of the project to wait for the functional agencies at the central and local levels to re-examine the regulations.
It is known that the investor, Đỗ Gia Capital Joint Stock Company, had to spend VND 1,192 trillion after winning the auction for the right to use the land to develop the urban area project (starting price of VND 1,145.3 trillion).
Currently, one of the biggest obstacles and will take a long time to resolve is to determine the boundaries and adjust the boundaries of the buffer zone of Hạ Long Bay.
In the report approving the environmental impact assessment at Decision No. 1614/QĐ-UBND dated June 15, 2023 of the People's Committee of Quảng Ninh Province, there are 3.88ha belonging to the buffer zone of Hạ Long Bay.
However, after re-examining, in the documents and even in the world natural heritage maps of Hạ Long Bay submitted to UNESCO, only the boundary of the protected area I is shown, not the boundary of the protected area II (buffer zone).
According to Report No. 301/BC-UBND dated November 17, 2023 of the People's Committee of Quảng Ninh Province, at the time of compiling the dossier for UNESCO's recognition as a World Heritage Site, the dossier of Hạ Long Bay did not clearly determine the coordinates of the boundary of the buffer zone on the map, nor did it determine and demarcate the boundary of the buffer zone on the ground. Some areas of the buffer zone cover residential areas, some coal mines, and military areas in Hạ Long City. This unclear determination is not convenient for conservation and development of the heritage value and socio-economic development, so Quảng Ninh Province has requested to adjust the boundary and area of the buffer zone of the heritage site.
In the Quảng Ninh Province Master Plan for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, approved by the Prime Minister, it also mentioned adjusting the buffer zone of Hạ Long Bay to facilitate management and development.
It is known that the People's Committee of Quảng Ninh Province has established a working group to develop a proposal and is completing the proposal, seeking opinions from relevant agencies to report to the Prime Minister on this matter in 2024.
According to representatives of some relevant units, the implementation of the Urban Area Project at 10B Street must wait for the completion of determining and adjusting the buffer zone of Hạ Long Bay.
