As Lao Dong reported, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thanh Hoa province said that the unit has just issued a document requesting a temporary suspension of exploitation of some sand mines due to landslides on the Ma River.
Previously, for a long time, illegal sand mining (sand thieves) or mining outside the boundary of some licensed units was one of the causes of serious landslides on the banks of the Ma River in Giang Dong and Nghia Ky villages (in Vinh Hoa commune, Vinh Loc district).
Faced with the above situation, on July 17, 2024, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province issued a decision on allocating the provincial budget to support the project: Handling landslides on the Ma River bank in Giang Dong and Nghia Ky villages (in Vinh Hoa commune, Vinh Loc district) with a total support of more than 62 billion VND.
By October 7, 2024, the project had been approved by the Chairman of Vinh Loc District People's Committee, with a total investment increased to more than 82 billion VND (of which the construction value is more than 64 billion VND) and construction to be implemented from December 2024. By March 24, 2025, the contractor had completed about 7.5% of the volume.
However, while implementing the above anti-landslide project, on October 21, 2024, Mr. Do Minh Tuan - Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 4185/QD-UBND allowing Minh Chung Company Limited to exploit with an area of 3.05 hectares from the middle of the mine to the upstream of the mine.
After being granted a license, Minh Chung Company Limited has resumed exploitation since the beginning of November 2024.
However, the area of 3.05ha exploited by Minh Chung Company Limited has partly been on the existing riverbank and roof, partly overlapping with the designed embankment.
When exploiting sand, it will endanger the roofs, riverbanks (causing landslides) and directly affect the embankment.
On the other side, on this river section, there are two adjacent sand mines, mine No. 18 of Minh Chung Company Limited and mine No. 54 of Nam Luc Company Limited, both operating.
Currently, there are illegal sand mining activities all day and night in this border area; the recent sand mining caused another landslide on the riverbank with a length of about 20m on February 22, 2025.
Faced with the above situation, the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thanh Hoa proposed that the Provincial People's Committee consider temporarily suspending exploitation in the area adjacent to the sand mine No. 18 to assess and adjust the exploitation boundary of the sand mine No. 18 to extend beyond the riverbed and riverbank area of the embankment construction area, meeting the requirements prescribed by law. At the same time, direct Yen Dinh district to have a plan to manage the operation of sand mine No. 54 of Nam Luc Company Limited.
The Department of Agriculture and Environment also requested the Provincial Police to direct the waterway police force to increase patrols on the river, catch criminals, and thoroughly handle illegal mineral exploitation in the area...
Regarding the issue of mineral exploitation in Thanh Hoa province, in a recent meeting with the Department of Agriculture and Environment, Mr. Nguyen Doan Anh - Secretary of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee pointed out: "The Department of Agriculture and Environment needs to summarize the assessment of mineral exploitation licensing. Whoever is wrong should point it out. Officials inspecting mining activities must clearly understand the violations, not in general "signals" of mining outside the boundary; clarify the mining volume outside the prescribed scope... We do this to preserve resources for the next generation, not to enrich a few individuals".
According to Mr. Nguyen Doan Anh, the reason he is interested in this issue is because Thanh Hoa province has a large number of mineral mines, but the amount of money paid to the budget is still low.
