Urgently separating 1,300 hectares of overlapping land in Soc Son district

Constructions of organizations and individuals located in forest land

According to documents collected by reporters, before 1993, Soc Son district had only 234 hectares of pine and eucalyptus forests, the rest was bare land and barren hills. Implementing afforestation programs to reforest bare land and barren hills (PAM since 1989, Program 327 in 1992), the forest area of Soc Son district has increased significantly.

On May 29, 2008, the Hanoi People's Committee issued Decision No. 2100/QD-UB on adjusting the planning of protective and special-use forests in Soc Son district into protective forests for environmental protection. Accordingly, Hanoi planned the entire 4,557 hectares of land into protective forests for environmental protection.

However, in Decision No. 2346/QD-UBND dated April 20, 2023 of the City People's Committee on announcing the current status of forests in Hanoi in 2022, the total forest area of Soc Son district is 3,266.12 hectares; the rest is other land such as: national defense and security land, land allocated by the State to organizations for lease, religious land, roads, residential land and agricultural land of households and individuals (included in the 1/1000 scale residential land map measured in 1993).

Seven districts and towns in the city are facing a situation where forests overlap with residential land and other types of land of people and social organizations.

Notably, in the forest areas in Soc Son district, there are planning areas for forest development combined with tourism, services and weekend relaxation. The total area planned to serve the development of functional areas is 968.1 hectares.

Among these are many large projects such as: Cultural tourism area combined with weekend resort of Soc Temple; Entertainment, recreation, eco-tourism and weekend resort area of Dong Do Lake (Minh Tri Commune); Eco-tourism, tourism and weekend resort village in Minh Phu Commune; Eco-tourism and weekend resort area of Hoa Son Lake - Ham Lon Lake (Nam Son Commune); Hanoi Wildlife Rescue Center (Tien Duoc Commune)...

Nguyen Van Toan, Acting Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Soc Son District, said that in reality, the 2008 Forest Planning of Soc Son District still overlaps and encroaches on the land areas of many defense and security units; Project works assigned land, leased land by the State; land of individual households (included in the 1/1000 scale residential land map measured in 1993). Even many communes such as Minh Tri commune and the entire Minh Tan village are still located in the forest. The area of overlapping forest land in the entire district is 1,300 hectares. The entire forest area has not been marked, measured, or updated with digital maps. Therefore, land management is very inadequate.

Based on the review of the current forest status, the People's Committee of Soc Son district has reported to the City People's Committee for permission to adjust the forest planning. Hanoi City has also issued Plan 57/KH-UBND dated February 18, 2022 on the implementation of the Forestry Development Strategy in Hanoi for the period 2022 - 2025 and the following years. In particular, focusing on measuring, marking forest boundaries, building digital maps for forest land management. For overlapping areas, it is proposed to adjust them out of the 2008 forest planning map.

Ms. Nguyen Huong Giang - Deputy Director of the Management Board of the Construction Investment Project of Soc Son District, Hanoi, said that after Hanoi City issued the Decision 57/KH - People's Committee, the district assigned the Management Board to be the project investor to investigate and review the current status of forests and agricultural land in the area. The Management Board has deployed bidding, internal and external surveys and actual flights to implement. The purpose is to investigate and survey the entire current status of Soc Son forest and investigate the current status of forests and forestry land in the area. After that, there will be a plan to propose solutions and directions for handling overlapping areas.

“Currently, we have worked with 11 communes with forests. The consulting unit has collected relevant documents, organized internal flights, and is expected to end on September 30. After that, the consulting unit will report to the district on the current situation. The district will have a summary document submitted to the competent authorities for consideration, approval, and updating to the city's master plan,” said Ms. Giang.

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