PM orders localities to act on "hot issues"

By Toan Dao   June 30, 2016 | 05:03 pm PT
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has told government officials in Hanoi and Lam Dong Province to resolutely deal with the burning issues in their respective localities.

In the monthly government conference on Thursday, Phuc asked whether the capital city is able to address violations in a building in central Hanoi which houses more floors than permitted. “Can Hanoi remove the additional construction at the building on 8B Le Truc Street or it remains unsolved as last time?” the prime minister said.

Le Truc Garment Co. JSC., investor of the 19-storey building on Le Truc Street in Ba Dinh District was forced to remove five floors from their construction as it exceeds the designated height restrictions for the area. The building under construction overlooks the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. The company started the removal work in November last year but the progress has been very slow despite pressure from the local government.

Nguyen Van Suu, vice chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee admitted the progress is slow and the investor has only finished removing 328 square meters of the 19th storey. He pledged the municipal government will try its best to speed up the removal work to realize the prime minister’s directions.

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The building on Le Truc Street. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

Phuc said if violations at this project last for too long, it will create a bad example in law obediance right in Hanoi, the center of the country. “The chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee has said the investor has been administratively fined tens of times for their violations but they have not faced criminal charges yet,” Phuc said.

Also at the meeting, the prime minister asked the People’s Committee of Lam Dong to represent the five provinces in the Central Highlands and answer whether they are able to freeze natural forests to protect the area from deforestation. “Is the Central Highlands determined to close the natural forests?” he asked.

In a meeting on June 20, Phuc had ordered closure of the remaining 2.25 million hectares of natural forests in the Central Highlands.

A representative from Lam Dong People’s Committee said the province’s forest area is currently more than 500,000 hectares, falling by 106,176 hectares compared to 1999. He promised the province will seriously implement the directions from the prime minister in order to preserve its natural forests. Chairmen of the communes and districts in the province have been asked to regularly visit the forests while ethnic minority people are assigned a certain forest area for management and protection.

Part of the Central Highlands. Photo by VnExpress/Huong Chi

Part of the Central Highlands. Photo by VnExpress/Huong Chi

“People across the country are very interested in the closure of the natural forests in the Central Highlands. As it is dubbed the roof of the Indochina, losing the forests will negatively affect the provinces in the central and southern regions,” Phuc said.

The strategic Central Highlands is bounded by Laos and Cambodia to the west, by Vietnam’s south central coast to the east and northeast.

Related news:

> PM orders closure of natural forests in strategic Central Highlands

 
 
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