Direct supervision
On the morning of October 24, at the MS01 sand mine on the Hau River in An Lac Tay and Phong Nam communes (Ke Sach district, Soc Trang province), two wire-clutching dredgers were continuously scooping sand onto barges to transport to the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang expressway construction site, part 4, through Soc Trang province. On the barge, Mr. Duong Thanh Phong in Phong Nam commune continuously updated the volume of sand exploited.
Mr. Phong said that his daily job is to go to the sand mine to monitor the contractor to exploit the correct amount of sand that has been licensed by the Provincial People's Committee and transport it to the correct highway construction site through Soc Trang province. Then report back to the local authorities so that the people know. During the exploitation process, if there is a situation of river dyke erosion, report to the local authorities so that timely measures can be taken to resolve the issue.
Mr. Le Van Nho - Chairman of Phong Nam Commune People's Committee (Ke Sach District, Soc Trang Province) - said that when the MS01 sand mine was licensed for exploitation by the Provincial People's Committee, many people were concerned that it would cause riverbank erosion, directly affecting the lives and production activities of people in the area, so the provincial leaders established a Community Group to monitor sand exploitation. The group consists of 5 members, all nominated by the people. The province also supported each person with 250,000 VND/day so that people could have more conditions to monitor effectively.
Mr. Nho informed that functional sectors and local authorities also publicly disclosed all procedures related to sand mining activities such as environmental impact assessment, licenses; time, number of vehicles, reserves exploited per day; location, mining boundary... for people to monitor and supervise.
Mr. Doan Van Thoai, a resident near the MS01 mine area, said that the people were very happy because the provincial leaders cared about them and created conditions for them to directly participate in supervising sand mining activities. Everything was public and transparent, so the people felt more secure.
Avoid resource loss
So far, Soc Trang province has put into operation 4 river sand mines and 1 sea sand mine under a special mechanism to serve the Can Tho - Ca Mau and Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway projects. Exploiting minerals for common materials is one of the necessary solutions to ensure the supply of sand for construction.
During each sand mine groundbreaking ceremony, the leaders of Soc Trang province always request that contractors ensure safety, correct designation, location, transportation, and proper use during the exploitation process to serve the Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway Component 4 Project.
The province has also established two monitoring teams for river and sea sand exploitation.The teams coordinate with relevant departments, agencies, and local authorities to strictly manage the exploitation situation, control sand transport vehicles; strengthen the management of national resources, and avoid loss.
For mining equipment and vehicles, GPS must be installed to monitor the correct process, route, and exploitation time; dredgers are equipped with surveillance cameras to be able to extract data at any time to see if sand exploitation is at the correct coordinates and at the correct time (from 7:00 a.m.to 5:00 p.m.).
Soc Trang provincial leaders also regularly survey and inspect sand exploitation and transportation, and in all trips, they require units and vehicles participating in exploitation and transportation to be registered, inspected, and have full monitoring equipment, in order to contribute to ensuring sand exploitation is in accordance with the licensed reserves.
Chairman of Soc Trang Provincial People's Committee Tran Van Lau pledged that all acts of self-interest, profiteering, and violations in sand mining activities will be strictly handled according to the provisions of the law.
For river sand mines, before exploitation, the province has requested contractors to coordinate with localities to review vulnerable locations for reinforcement. During construction, if landslides occur, they will be reinforced immediately to avoid affecting the lives and production of people on both banks.
