Illegal burial on land not included in the planning

Construction of 64 high voltage power poles not included in the investment policy approval

On the afternoon of October 18, the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province held a press conference for the third quarter of 2024.

Regarding 64 high-voltage electricity poles buried from Son Tra hydropower plant (Son Lap commune, Son Tay district) to 220kV transformer station (Di Lang town, Son Ha) when the state has not allocated land, changed land use purpose and leased land, Giao thong Newspaper reporter asked the leaders of Quang Ngai province and local departments and branches whether the incident was correct or not, what were the specific violations of the investor?

All high-voltage power poles were buried by Dat Phuong Son Tra Company in Son Ha and Son Tay districts when they were not included in the planning.

Vice Chairman of Quang Ngai Provincial People's Committee Tran Hoang Tuan chaired the press conference, saying that this is a hot issue that the public is interested in. This problem has existed for many years, so departments and localities must respond specifically and propose solutions, not give general answers.

Ms. Dinh Thi Tra, Chairman of the People's Committee of Son Ha district, said that 64 high-voltage power poles buried and pulled by Dat Phuong Son Tra Joint Stock Company have been in place since 2016-2017. Of which, the section passing through the district has 54 poles in 6 communes and towns of the district.

"The district knew about the investor burying this row of pillars and followed the direction of the Provincial People's Committee in Official Dispatch 5537 in 2016 on the construction of power lines and the construction permit of the Department of Construction in 2017," Ms. Tra said, adding that the locality focused on resolving this problem, but it was too complicated.

According to Ms. Tra, the province has focused on solving the problems since 2019, not just now, and the district has also been involved since then.

"However, the approval of the investment policy for the Son Tra hydropower project did not include the approval of land funds to build the above high-voltage pier foundations, so there was no basis for land recovery. As a result, land recovery, land use conversion, and land lease could not be carried out. The location of the pier foundations had many problems, so the district could not resolve them," said Ms. Tra.

Chairman of Son Ha District People's Committee - Dinh Thi Tra affirmed that the construction of 64 high-voltage power poles was not included in the investment policy decision granted to the project.

Mr. Vo Van Ran, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Quang Ngai, said that in 2016-2017, the mechanism allowed investors to negotiate compensation with land users. However, the completion of legal procedures for land has not yet been completed.

The power line is one of the project items, but it is not included in the investment policy decision, so at meetings to resolve problems, departments and localities "argue back and forth" about this issue.

"The Department of Planning and Investment believes that adding land fund and items of power lines and high-voltage poles to the investment policy is unreasonable because the policy decision was granted for the project a long time ago and the items of power lines and land for burying poles were also built a long time ago.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment replied that this item was not included in the investment policy decision, so it was impossible to complete land procedures and land legality. Since then, nearly 3 years have passed and the issue has not been resolved, the matter has not been resolved because the viewpoints between the departments and localities have not been unified," said Mr. Ran.

The entire land fund for burying pillars is not included in the planning and land use plan.

Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Minh Vuong affirmed that through review, it was found that all 64 high-voltage power poles buried by Dat Phuong Son Tra Company had not had their land use purpose changed from other types of land to energy land to build power poles according to regulations.

Although the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province allowed investors to bury poles but required completion of land procedures, over the past 7 years the land fund for building 64 high-voltage poles has not been converted to energy land according to regulations.

Mr. Vuong said that for power grid corridors, land does not need to be reclaimed, but for land used to bury power poles, land must be reclaimed, its purpose changed and land allocated for investment and construction.

The conditions for changing the purpose and allocating land must be consistent with the land use planning and must be included in the annual land use plan registration of the locality. The above conditions must be ensured to have a basis for implementation.

"After reviewing the land use planning map, all 64 high-voltage power poles were buried inconsistently with the land use planning. This led to problems in land recovery, land use purpose change, and land allocation," said Mr. Vuong.

Disagreeing, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Son Ha district said that the problem here is that when the province approved the investment policy of the Son Tra hydropower project, there was no location for the power poles to pass through 5 out of 6 communes of the district.

At the meeting, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province Tran Hoang Tuan requested the Department of Industry and Trade, the People's Committees of Son Ha and Son Tay districts to work with Dat Phuong Son Tra Joint Stock Company to clarify the right and wrong and find solutions to resolve the issue, not letting the matter drag on.

To clarify the number of high voltage electricity poles, the reporter contacted Mr. Phan Ngoc Long, Deputy Director of Dat Phuong Son Tra Joint Stock Company by phone, but Mr. Long's line was busy.

Previously, Giao Thong Newspaper reported that over the past 7 years, the 110kV power line and 64 high-voltage power poles from the complex of 3 Son Tra hydropower plants 1A, 1B and 1C were built by Dat Phuong Son Tra Hydropower Joint Stock Company in Quang Ngai, but the authorities did not know because all the power lines and power poles were built on land that had not been reclaimed by the State, had not been converted to land use purposes, had not been allocated land, or had not been leased land.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/vu-64-tru-dien-cao-the-chon-trai-phep-tren-dat-khong-co-trong-quy-hoach-192241018183501608.htm