In response to people's suspicions that the company took advantage of storm No. 3 to "shave" the protective forest of Khe Giua Lake, Hoanh Bo Forestry One Member Co., Ltd. affirmed that it is implementing a forest exploitation plan according to approved decisions.
Exploitation of protective forest trees in the headwaters
In mid-December, Giao thong Newspaper reporters boarded a small motorboat at the foot of Khe Giua Lake dam to travel to the upstream forest. The motorboat continuously weaved through the dry treetops that looked like stakes lying vaguely under the rather murky water of Khe Giua Lake during the dry season.
Protective forests planted upstream of Khe Giua Lake were destroyed after storm No. 3.
This area has two types of forests: protective forests managed by Hoanh Bo Forestry One Member Co., Ltd. and production forests of Duong Huy commune people.
About 15 minutes later, the motorboat docked at the shore. Giao thong Newspaper reporters used their motorbikes to continue crossing the narrow, slippery path, full of large rocks, deep streams blocking the way... and then reached the forests devastated by storm No. 3. Here, the acacia trees had their tops cut off, their trunks broken, and they fell to the ground...
Through observations of the reporter, the acacia forests in this area are planted quite sparsely and the diameters also vary quite a lot. The tree trunk diameter is up to 30-40cm, but there are trees with trunk diameter of only more than ten centimeters.
Remarkably, in the forests there are many patchy fires, even still smoking.
Clip of a protected forest being completely exploited by a business.
Following a newly opened road for cars to transport glue, the reporter came to a forest where many workers were exploiting trees that had been broken and fallen by the storm. A young man said that a group of workers from Son Duong commune, Ha Long city came here to work as hired workers, to cut down and collect trees that had been fallen by the storm.
"The tenant said if we don't exploit it quickly, it won't have much value. Because the wood is dry, the factory owners hardly accept it or pay very low prices," said the worker.
After 2:00 p.m., we "descended the mountain". On the way back, we occasionally encountered trucks loaded with acacia wood heading towards Mong Duong ward, Cam Pha city on steep, dangerous mountain passes.
A group of workers are hurriedly exploiting the protective forest upstream of Khe Giua Lake.
What do authorities and forest owners say?
Speaking with Giao Thong Newspaper reporter, Mr. Nguyen Ba Truong, Director of Hoanh Bo Forestry Company Limited, said that the acacia trees in the protective forest upstream of Khe Giua Lake have a rather sparse growth rate and were planted nearly 20 years ago.
According to science, acacia wood grows for 20 years and basically stops growing and becomes corky, broken and rotten, and has no value. Therefore, since 2022, the company has planned to exploit this area to plant lim, lat gioi...
To prove this, Mr. Truong provided all the documents and records related to the main exploitation plan, full exploitation, full exploitation, full exploitation of common forest plant species from the protective forest, which is the enterprise's planted forest in sub-areas 155 and 156 in Hoa Binh commune, Ha Long city (plan - PV) submitted by the enterprise to the competent authority since early November 2022.
By July 2, 2024, the Quang Ninh Provincial Forest Protection Department had a report on the appraisal of the plan to exploit planted forests on an area of 84.0 hectares of Hoanh Bo Forestry One Member Co., Ltd.
On July 11, 2024, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) of Quang Ninh province, Vu Duy Van, signed Official Dispatch No. 3886 approving this plan.
The area of ironwood plantation to replace acacia in the upstream of Khe Giua Lake is starting to grow well.
Mr. Truong said that according to the roadmap, the enterprise will exploit about 750 hectares of acacia forests to switch to growing lim, lat, and giổi xanh. The forest area planted by the enterprise is from the state budget, so the organization of bidding and liquidation of assets has been carried out by competent authorities in accordance with regulations. Currently, the winning bidder has paid about over 4 billion to the state budget.
"The company has been implementing exploitation plans according to the decisions approved before storm No. 3 hit. Therefore, the information that people petitioned that the company took advantage of the damage caused by storm No. 3 to "shave" the protective forest at the headwaters of Khe Giua Lake is incorrect," said Mr. Nguyen Ba Truong.
Discussing the above issue, Mr. Vu Duy Van, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Quang Ninh province, said: The planted forests in sub-areas 155 and 156 that are being exploited by Hoanh Bo Forestry One Member Co., Ltd. are acacia trees that were planted a long time ago and have reached the end of their growth period. In particular, after Typhoon Yagi, a large number of trees were damaged. Therefore, exploiting this area is necessary to avoid wasting state assets...
"The stages, procedures for implementing the documents and related plans are all guaranteed to comply with current legal regulations," Mr. Van affirmed.
Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/bi-to-loi-dung-bao-so-3-de-cao-troc-rung-phong-ho-ho-khe-giua-doanh-nghiep-noi-gi-192241220174733081.htm
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