Sand mining suspended over sinking homes

The suspension is intended to monitor and evaluate the impacts of sand mining on the sinking houses in Thai Hoa and Phong Van communes of Ba Vi.

The Phu Tho People's Committee has tasked the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to determine the area where sand mining needs to be suspended, and to inform Tien Nga company, which was approved for sand mining.

In mid-May, the Ba Vi District People's Committee reported to the Hanoi People's Committee on rampant sand mining activities on the Da and the Red rivers, in areas bordering Phu Tho.

Dozens of vessels would mine sand day and night, and other vessels would be densely docked in the area to extract the sand.

The house of Ngo Van Lich (pictured) in Bai Village, Ba Vi, Hanoi is cracked. Photo by VnExpress/Vo Hai

Ba Vi authorities said the location was at the convergence of the Da and Hong rivers, so sand mining would cause a shift to the water flow, impacting dykes. Walls of houses and other civilian infrastructures would therefore be affected as well.

42 houses at the Bai village, located 40-50 m from the dykes, are cracked and sinking, according to authorities of Phong Van Commune.

The Phu Tho Department of Natural Resources and Environment said the province had issued 17 licences for river sand mining in the area bordering Ba Vi District, with nine of them on the Red River and the others on the Da River. The sand mine in the Da River section of Dan Quyen Commune borders the erosion area of Phong Van, and the mining is carried out by the Tien Nga company.

There are 11 sand mines in Ba Vi, but 10 of them have not been approved. Seven of them are located on the Red River, and the other three are on the Da River.

One mine at the Red River islet was suspended in May, and is undergoing procedures to extend its licence and land lease.