From expectation to disappointment
The Phu Son Cement Factory Project (in Phu Son commune, Nho Quan district, Ninh Binh) was issued land allocation decisions by the Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee in 2007 with a total area of nearly 40 hectares.
The investor is Phu Son Cement Joint Stock Company (the Company), registered with its head office in Phu Son Commune (Nho Quan District, Ninh Binh Province), with Mr. Nguyen Huu Loi (residing at No. 1177, Quarter 2, Phu Tho Ward, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province) as Chairman of the Board of Directors and legal representative. The expected capacity when put into operation is 11 million tons/year, with a total investment of nearly 5,000 billion VND.
According to Mr. Nguyen Cao Son - Vice Chairman of Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Huu Loi is of Vietnamese origin, but has Czechoslovak nationality. The company was granted the first investment certificate by Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee on August 6, 2007, with a project implementation period of 33 months. After that, the project continued to be adjusted by Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee 3 times, the last adjustment being on November 16, 2010, extending the project implementation progress to December 2012.
However, after being allocated land and granted an investment certificate, the company has only leveled the ground, built part of the surrounding wall, a water tank, and an unfinished 3-storey executive office building. Construction activities have been slow since 2009, and have completely stopped since the end of 2012.
When implementing the project, the company planned to support local children to study cement so that they could return to work at the factory. At that time, people were very excited and hopeful. However, until now, the children have long since graduated, and the factory is still just a wasteland.
"In reality, they only support tuition fees, while our families have to pay for food, accommodation and living expenses. After 2 years of vocational training, which cost a lot of money, now after 17 years, the factory is still nowhere to be seen," said a local resident.
Cannot process because looking for investor but... can't find
Not implementing the project as planned, the company also did not comply with all decisions of the authorities in paying land rent, non-agricultural land use tax and other administrative penalty decisions.
In April 2022, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ninh Binh province issued a decision to inspect the compliance with land laws for the factory construction investment project. However, during the inspection process, although the Department of Natural Resources and Environment sent a document to the company inviting the company's legal representative to attend to announce the inspection decision, after sending it three times, the company's legal representative still did not come to work, without reason and without authorization or sending anyone to work.
According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ninh Binh province, the company did not send anyone to work and provide documents to the Inspection Team, so it could not be inspected.
The leader of Nho Quan District People's Committee said that the district has repeatedly requested Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee to quickly withdraw the project and hand over the land to another investor.
After that, the Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee issued a document directing the Department of Planning and Investment to coordinate with relevant agencies and units to carry out the procedures for revoking the Investment Certificate and terminating the project. At the same time, the Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to preside over and coordinate the recovery of the land area that the State had leased to Phu Son Cement Joint Stock Company to implement the Phu Son Cement Factory Construction Investment Project in accordance with the provisions of the law on land and other relevant laws.
However, by December 2024, the project withdrawal according to the above direction still could not be implemented.
During the question-and-answer session at the Ninh Binh Provincial People's Council on December 3, 2024, Mr. Nguyen Cao Son - Vice Chairman of the Ninh Binh Provincial People's Committee - said that the reason why the project has not been able to be recovered is because the provincial departments and levels have searched for the investor everywhere but could not find him, so the recovery procedures could not be carried out, especially when the project already had constructions and assets on the land.
According to Mr. Nguyen Cao Son, the People's Committee of Ninh Binh province has sent an official dispatch to the Government, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and relevant ministries and branches to consult on how to handle the situation, but by early December 2024, they had not received a response, so the project was still abandoned, and the leaders of the Provincial People's Committee were helpless.
