Illegal sand exploitation is causing serious landslides and damaging farm land along the banks of the Luoc River in Thai Binh Province’s Diep Nong Commune.

Serious landslides

Dozens of hectares of local farm land have been swept away as a result of the landslides, causing a complete loss to many unfortunate farmers.

At some locations, landslides have caused damage to nearly one kilometre long river bank with over three metres in width.

Tens of local households have sent petitions to local authorities to ask for aid.

Local farmer Nguyen Thi Mua, said that recently a company building a road in the commune had exploited local sand, affecting local cultivation land.

Nguyen Van Huong, 50, a local resident, said, “The bank on the other side of the river in Hung Yen Province was a stone jetty, which effectively helped prevent landslides. However, due to illegal sand exploitation, landslides have often plagued the river bank in our hometown especially when tides appear. I’m afraid that all of our farm land may be swept away in the near future.”

According to Huong, illegal sand exploitation has become relatively common in recent years; however, the sand exploiters have recently expanded their operations, causing serious consequences.

“Currently, they’re using large ships to carry sand to a nearby sand collection station owned by a local woman named Phuong Anh before selling it to construction sites,” he added.

Local people said Phuong Anh Company bought farm land from several local residents to build their sand collection point with a capacity of over 30,000 cubic metres in order to facilitate their project to build a 30-kilometre Thai Ha road connecting Ha Nam Province with Thai Binh Province.

After receiving petitions from local residents, communal authorities in Diep Nong have proposed that the provincial governments take measures to improve the situation but nothing has changed.

Tran Duy Mac, Chairman of Diep Nong communal People’s Committee admitted to DTiNews that illegal sand exploitation has been plagued the locality in recent years, causing serious landslides and damaging local farm land of dozens of households. Despite having failing to get approval from the communal government, illegal sand exploiters have continued to use large ship for their illicit exploitation.

Phuong Anh sand collection site is illegal as well but they continue their operations. According to Mac, the communal authorities have requested the station’s owner to make compensation for the damage they caused to local farmers.

He said that the illegal sand exploitation in Diep Nong Commune had become more serious since the operation of the station and the Thai Ha road construction.

“For the short term, we have decided to halt all sand exploitation and transportation along the Luoc River as well as suspend the operation of the Phuong Anh sand collection station in Diep Nong Commune. We’ve also proposed that the provincial government, police and Department of Agriculture and Rural Development apply the best solution to deal with the situation,” he added.

Threatened farm land

Illegal sand collection station