Nghe An struggles to reclaim abandoned land

Nearly 1,000 hectares of forest land in Nghe An Province have been abandoned for 10 years after being leased out while local people are in need of farming land.

Nearly 1,000 hectares of forest land in Nghe An Province have been abandoned for 10 years after being leased out while local people are in need of farming land.

  

Nearly 1,000 hectares of forest land in Nghe An Province have been abandoned

In May 2009, Nghe An authorities agreed to lease out 978 hectares of forest land to the InnovGreen Company owned by a Chinese businessman as material forest. In 2010, InnovGreen cleaned up the vegetation and built 5.8 km of roads. However, all activities stopped in 2011 and the project was abandoned.

Lu Thanh Binh, chairman of Cam Muon Commune, said 38 households of Kho Mu ethnic people hoped to have cultivated land since they were having to travel into the forest to find wild vegetables to live on. Binh asked the related agencies to end the project and recall the forest land.

Bui Van Hien, vice chairman of Que Phong District, said they had asked the provincial authorities to reclaim the land several times but hadn't received any feedback. They haven't seen the employees of InnoveGreen at the site for a decade.

According to Nghe An People's Committee, in 2016, they already asked to shut down the project and reclaim the land after reviewing the project.

In January, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment reported that they couldn't reclaim the land yet because it was an important project in the department’s raw material area planning. Moreover, Vo Duy Viet, the department's director, said since the project was invested by a foreigner, they must follow the procedures carefully to avoid unnecessary complications and lawsuits.