Recorded in early July 2025, there was a truck in the above area, not far away there was an excavator leveling the road to the site.
A local resident said: "Excavators and trucks have been mobilized to dig up the soil for about 3 months now, they have been scooping up hills to level the ground to build a livestock farm".
Speaking to Lao Dong Newspaper reporter, Mr. Nguyen Song Toan - Chairman of Bang Luan Commune People's Committee - said that the old Phuc Lai commune did not report or hand over this incident (Bang Luan commune was established on the basis of merging the entire natural area and population of the old Bang Doan, Phuc Lai and Bang Luan communes).
"Now that I have received feedback from the press, Bang Luan commune will establish a working group to conduct verification and propose a handling direction" - Mr. Toan said.
After receiving information from the reporter, Bang Luan Commune Police, Bang Luan Commune Economic Department and Head of Residential Area No. 3 went to the location where the forest was leveled and had its foundation cut down for inspection.
According to the working minutes, the estimated area of land to be leveled is about 8,000m2, belonging to plot No. 18, map sheet No. 05, the purpose of use is production forest land, the owners are Mr. Pham Van Kien and Ms. Le Thi Thanh Van.
At the time of inspection, it was noted that there was 1 truck, 1 excavator (without license plate), both of which had not yet identified the vehicle owner. The Minutes also determined that the leveling and change of the status of the above forest land area has not been licensed by competent authorities. Notably, this is not the first time Mr. Kien and Mrs. Van's family has committed a violation.
Previously, around March 2025, the People's Committee of Phuc Lai commune (old) inspected, made a record, suspended the leveling activities and administratively sanctioned the owner of this forest land area with a fine of 3.5 million VND.
On the morning of July 9, speaking with a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Song Toan - Chairman of the People's Committee of Bang Luan Commune - said that the authorities are currently in the process of proposing a plan to handle the case.
According to Lawyer Diep Nang Binh - Head of Tinh Thong Luat Law Office (under the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association), for the act of destroying production forest land of about 8,000m2 in the above case, the competent authority to sanction is the People's Committee at the commune level. Accordingly, the People's Committee at the commune level has the right to impose a fine of up to VND 100,000,000 according to Clause 3, Article 30 of Decree No. 123/2024/ND-CP.
The act of converting production forest land to residential land within the administrative boundaries of a commune shall be subject to a fine of VND 150,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 for land area of 0.5ha or more.
In addition, Clause 2, Article 14 of Decree No. 123/2024/ND-CP also stipulates that acts of deforming the terrain, including changing the slope of the land surface, lowering the land surface, or leveling the surface of agricultural land (including production forest land) that cause loss or reduction of land use capacity for the determined purpose, all of which are considered acts of land destruction, will be subject to a fine of VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 for land areas from 0.5ha to less than 1ha.
