Billion-VND sandbag by the river
On August 3, Mr. Pham Van Duc - Chairman of Ia Tul Commune People's Committee, Gia Lai province signed a certificate of registration to recover minerals from agricultural land improvement activities for Mr. Vo Van Dinh (residing in Troi Toan village).
For many years, the Ba River has flowed through communes and wards such as Ayun Pa, Ia Tul, Ia Hiao... carrying a large amount of alluvium, sand and gravel. The historic flood at the end of 2025 caused the river to aggressively sweep away many assets and crops of people along the river, but also left behind a huge amount of sand siltation, worth billions of dong.
In Ia Tul commune, floods have silted up agricultural land of Mr. Vo Van Dinh's household, residing in Troi Toan village, creating a giant sandbar along the riverbank on a land area of more than 8,000m2.
The volume of silted sand is located on Mr. Dinh's agricultural land plots, including plots No. 53, 57, 58 and 59 belonging to the Plai Kdam field.
The Commune People's Committee determined the volume of minerals to be recovered to be 9,827.52m3, including 2,500m3 of construction sand and 7,327.52m3 of gravel.
Mr. Dinh proposed that Ia Tul Commune People's Committee allow the recovery of the above minerals to improve the silted agricultural land. The inventory of mineral volume and the implementation of tax and financial obligations will be carried out in accordance with the law.
Supervising tax payment and volume declaration
For minerals recovered from land improvement activities, people can sell them to construction works and projects. However, exploitation must ensure the correct depth and volume permitted by competent authorities.
The confirmation for households to recover minerals has been reported by Ia Tul commune to Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee and Department of Agriculture and Environment.
While construction activities are bustling, having more supply of sand and gravel to serve projects, especially irrigation and disaster prevention works, will reduce pressure on the cost of construction materials.
It is known that every year, the Ba River water rises during the rainy and flood season, causing serious flooding in the downstream area. Currently, Ia Tul Commune People's Committee is coordinating to implement the relocation and resettlement of hundreds of households living in areas that are frequently flooded and at risk of natural disasters.
In 2025, Gia Lai province suffered two serious natural disasters including storm No. 13 (Kalmaegi) and heavy rain and floods in November. The whole province has many residential areas deeply flooded; more than 57,000 houses flooded; 28,196 houses collapsed, fallen, swept away or heavily damaged, requiring urgent construction and repair.
Total estimated damage is over 11,500 billion VND, of which storm No. 13 caused damage of over 10,000 billion VND, and the flood caused damage of about 1,500 billion VND.
