Over 50 illegally-constructed houses at the Ba Vi mountains have recently been discovered, rapidly following the scandalous case which revealed construction of a resort in the centre of Ba Vi National Park.
Illegally-constructed houses at the Ba Vi mountains
Local people from Yen Bai Commune reclaimed 4.8 hectares of forest land for agriculture but were never issued land-use certificates. From 2011, they started to illegally sell the land. The buyers lack the red book documents that confer land-use ownership, but still carried out constructions. 50 houses and one service centre has already been completed and eight houses are still under construction.
Nguyen Dinh Dan, deputy chairman of Ba Vi District People's Committee, criticised Yen Bai Commune People's Committee's lax management. Other agencies such as Ba Vi Department of Natural Resources and Environment and inspectorate were also singled out for blame for somehow being unaware of these obviously illegal developments.
Vo Nguyen Phong, deputy head of the Construction Department said after inspections, they found nine households still living in the area. According to Phong, these constructions violated the land and construction laws. He avoided commenting on individual responsibility and said if the future of any officials would be determined later.
Hanoi Chief Inspector Nguyen Van Tuan Dung said they started the inspections on March 8 to determine the responsibilities of agencies and individuals. The inspection will last some 45 days.
On February 29, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development asked the investor of Le Mont Ba Vi Resort and Spa to only halt the illegal construction of Le Mont Ba Vi Resort and Spa in Hanoi's Ba Vi National Park. Local authorities made the unbelievable claim that they were completely unaware of the project, despite it starting construction back in 2008.
