Proposal to reduce time for converting forest use purposes to implement projects

Lam Dong believes that the process of preparing documents to submit to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to convert forest use to other purposes is often lengthy and time-consuming, affecting the progress of project implementation.

Perspective of Ta Hoet Reservoir Project, Lam Dong Province.

Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee has just proposed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to guide, support, create favorable conditions, and reduce the time to carry out procedures related to converting forest use purposes to other purposes to speed up the investment progress of projects.

Accordingly, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee said that the Ta Hoet Reservoir Construction Project, the DT.729 Road Construction Project connecting Lam Dong Province with Binh Thuan Province and the DT.722 Road connecting Lam Dong Province with Dak Lak Province mostly have routes passing through forested land areas, affecting forest areas...

Therefore, the locality must prepare a dossier to submit to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to carry out procedures to convert forest use to other purposes to have construction sites. Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee said that this procedure is often lengthy and time-consuming, thus affecting the progress of project implementation.

Last July, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Lam Dong province also reported and proposed to handle difficulties and problems related to changing forest use purposes during the implementation of the project to invest in building the expressway section Tan Phu - Bao Loc and Bao Loc - Lien Khuong under the PPP method.

Accordingly, the Tan Phu - Bao Loc Expressway has been approved by the Prime Minister for investment policy in Decision No. 1386/QD-TTg dated November 10, 2022 on approving the investment policy for the Tan Phu - Bao Loc Expressway Construction Project under the PPP method.

However, because the route stretches across the territory of Lam Dong and Dong Nai provinces, the establishment and approval of forest inventory records and conversion of forest use purposes according to decentralization and delegation of authority all belong to the provincial People's Committee.

Therefore, there are many difficulties in synthesizing and synchronizing dossiers of applications for changing forest use purposes. Specifically, for the area in Lam Dong province, due to some sections of the route that need to be locally adjusted to suit the terrain, it is necessary to re-establish dossiers of applications for changing forest use purposes and submit them to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for appraisal and report to the Prime Minister for approval (according to the guidance of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in Official Dispatch No. 97/TCLN-KL dated January 16, 2023).

However, the results of the preliminary adjustment review show that, although there are adjustments to the location and local position of the route, the affected forest area will decrease compared to the policy approved by the Prime Minister.

In addition, according to the planning results of 3 types of forests in Lam Dong province, most of the land area for project implementation is located on forestry land for production forests, and the adjustment of the planning of 3 types of forests to comply with the National Forestry Planning must be implemented according to the direction in Notice No. 259/TB-VPCP dated July 4, 2023 of the Government Office announcing the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang at the meeting on the draft Resolution of the Government on solutions to remove difficulties and obstacles related to changing the purpose of forest use to implement socio-economic development projects.

At the time of reporting, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Lam Dong province said that it would take a lot of time to implement the above contents, which would affect the time to complete the application for permission to change the purpose of forest use.

Regarding the area in Dong Nai province, according to the report of the representative of the consortium of investors proposing the project, accepting the plan to pay for replacement forestation is facing many difficulties. In addition, there are difficulties in procedures related to approving the project's environmental impact assessment report according to the provisions of the law on environmental protection, investment, and public investment.

Similar to the Tan Phu - Bao Loc Expressway Project, the Bao Loc - Lien Khuong Expressway Project also encountered difficulties in adjusting the forestry land area outside the planning of 3 types of forests to implement the investment project and procedures related to the approval of the project's environmental impact assessment report according to the provisions of law on environmental protection, investment, and public investment.

To resolve the above difficulties and obstacles in order to promptly implement the project, in July 2023, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Lam Dong province requested the Provincial People's Committee to report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to submit to the Prime Minister for approval a special mechanism allowing the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee not to re-apply for changing the purpose of forest use due to local adjustment of the route (although there is a change in location and location due to local adjustment of the route, the affected forest area is reduced compared to the policy agreed by the Prime Minister); allowing the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee to locally adjust the project implementation area outside the forestry planning; directing the Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee to promptly receive the plan to pay for replacement forest planting from the representative of the investor consortium as a basis for implementing the next steps in accordance with regulations.

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