On the afternoon of October 19, speaking with VietNamNet, Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Nam province Le Van Dung said that he had received information about the sand mine with a starting price of 1.2 billion but the auction company closed the auction at 370 billion VND in Dien Ban town.

"I have directed the authorities to investigate whether this auction is in accordance with the auction law or not. If there is any violation of the law, we will strictly handle it," said Mr. Dung.

At the same time, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Nam province also requested functional agencies to advise on implementing measures to control appropriate prices in the market, to avoid material shortages and high prices, causing difficulties for businesses and people.

Earlier, on the same morning, Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Chau - Vice Chairman of Dien Ban Town People's Committee (Quang Nam) said that the sand mine auction had a starting price of just over 1.2 billion VND but closed at 370 billion VND.

According to Ms. Chau, the auction of the BD2B sand mine in Dien Tho commune (Dien Ban town) started at 8:00 a.m. on October 18 and ended at 4:00 a.m. this morning (October 19).

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The sand mine auction in Dien Tho commune lasted 20 hours. Photo: Contributor

Notably, the starting price was set at 1.2 billion VND, but after 20 hours and 200 rounds of bidding, the sand mine was priced at 370 billion VND, an increase of more than 1,500% compared to the starting price. The winning bidder is based in Da Nang City.

It is known that the DB2B construction sand mine has an area of ​​6.04 hectares, the reserve according to the approved plan is 159,000m3, starting price R = 5%, price step 0.8%. Enterprises participating in the auction must deposit 242.8 million VND in advance.

A business specializing in buying and selling sand in Dien Ban town said that the current price of sand approved by the People's Committee of Quang Nam province is 150,000 VND/m3. The price of sand at the wharf is also from 150,000 to 180,000 VND/m3.

Therefore, the auction results of this sand mine also surprised many people because of the high price...

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Vy - Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Dien Ban town admitted that the price that the company won the auction was too high. The price of sand after the auction was more than 2.3 million VND/m3, if taxes and fees were calculated, the price of 1m3 of sand would be up to nearly 3 million VND, this is unrealistic compared to the current market price.

The head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Dien Ban town also admitted that it is not known whether the company will cancel the deposit after winning the auction. "We will only know when the company is notified to pay the money and does not pay. We have to wait and see their capacity," said Mr. Vy.

Regarding this incident, Mr. Bui Ngoc Anh - Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Quang Nam province said that, in the immediate future, the industry proposed that the province direct Dien Ban town not to recognize the auction results and review the entire auction process.

At the same time, we will review all the results in the recent past to see if there are any other irregularities in the local auctions similar to this case. If there is a case of monopolizing the raw material market, we will recommend that the province direct the relevant agencies to handle it according to regulations.