The Lam Dong provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has signed a decision, under which 247 pine trees of the Da Lat special-use forest in Da Lat City would be chopped down to give place for mineral exploitation.

Pine trees fall down for stone mine

The decision has brought big benefit to Nguyen Huynh Gia Phat, a private enterprise, which plans to exploit the minerals for “making common construction materials” (stones for household use). However, people believe that the project does not deserve the sacrifice of the 247 pine trees of the forest.

Pine trees fall down

On January 11, 2012, Deputy Director of the Lam Dong provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Van Hung signed the Decision No. 58, granting the license to Nguyen Huynh Gia Phat to exploit and use the timber in the leased area and exploit the materials to make common construction materials in ward No. 7 in Da Lat City.

Under the decision, Nguyen Huynh Gia Phat has the right to chop down and use 247 pine trees, of which 113 trees have the diameter of over 25 cm. The exploitation time would finish on June 30, 2012.

The noteworthy thing is that, according to the Decision No 58, this would be just the first phase of the exploitation plan on the 1.83 hectares out of the 4 hectares of the “stone mine” of Nguyen Huynh Gia Phat. This means that the enterprise may get the license for the “second or third phases” of the exploitation in the future.

Stones arise

The Dispatch No. 6033a/VPCP of the government office released on August 30, 2011, stipulates that the licensing for mineral exploration and exploitation nationwide is halted until a new decision is made.

Meanwhile, Lam Dong province still decided to sacrifice the special use forest to develop a stone mine in the forest.

On October 13, 2011, the Lam Dong Department for Agriculture and Rural Development released the Decision No. 1007, approving the design on exploiting and using forestry products on the leased area, licensing the exploitation of minerals to make common construction materials in sub-area No. 148A of ward 7 in Da Lat City, to Huynh Le Gia Phat private enterprise.

Prior to that, on October 4, 2011, the Lam Dong provincial people’s committee released the Document No. 5359 on the mineral exploitation on the leased area of Nguyen Huynh Gia Phat Enterprise in sub-area No. 148A, and two other companies – Nam Tien Construction and Trade Company Ltd, and Lam Dien Company Ltd.

Meanwhile, only on August 22, 2011, did the Lam Dong People’s Committee realize the Decision No. 1823 to take back the land (which previously was allocated to the Ta Nung forest management board and put under the protection of the Lam Dong Military Command) to allocate to Nguyen Huynh Gia Phat.

After the decision No. 58 was made, in March 2012, the owner of Nguyen Huynh Gia Phat signed a contract with Phuong Thanh Enterprise, under which Phuong Thanh would exploit timber as per the license.

This is not for the first time the pine trees in Da Lat were chopped down. Two years ago, local newspapers reported that 1000 pine trees on 5000 square meters of the forest were chopped down.

The culprit in the case, Dang Viet Tam, was forced to pay the penalty of 30 million dong, which was not heavy enough to deter other crimes.