Celebrity land-use violations found in Ha Noi suburb

Monday, May 13, 2013 12:17

Singer My Linh's villa in Ha Noi's Soc Son District is under inspection as it locates on land for forest growing.— VNS File Photo

HA NOI (Biz Hub) – Forest land in Ha Noi's outlying district of Soc Son has been used for personal purposes by a range of citizens, including two prominent celebrities, the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment has claimed.

Violations were uncovered at seven of the 25 communes in Soc Son District: Minh Phu, Hien Ninh, Phu Linh, Nam Son, Quang Tien, Tien Duoc and Hong Ky.

Loose regulations and slack management from the respective people's committees led to forest land wrongly being redesignated as residential, the inspectors concluded early this week.

They added that the chairmen of these communes must take ultimate responsibility for not preventing these violations.

The Soc Son Agriculture and Forestry Investment and Development Limited Company, which has been in charge of managing, protecting and growing forest in the district, was also deemed responsible for the infringement.

The offending houses included the villa of renowned Vietnamese singer My Linh in Minh Phu commune, as well as Viet Palace which is owned by painter Thanh Chuong in Hien Ninh Commune.

My Linh bought about 12,000 sq.m from Do Xuan Lam, a worker at Soc Son Forest Farm in 2001. The transaction was certified by the communal People's Committee and the Soc Son District's People's Committee permitted her to use 600sq.m of the land for building.

Talking with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper Linh confirmed that she bought the land legally and built the house five years ago with the permission of the district's people's committee.

However, inspectors said the singer failed to show them the construction permission papers.

Viet Palace owned by renowned painter Thanh Chuong was said to be built without permission —VNS File Photo

The inspectors also picked out Thanh Chuong's palace in Hien Ninh Commune, which was built on nearly 8,000sq.m of forest land.

The painter was fined VND10 million ($500) for building without permission, but continued his work.

Thanh Chuong's palace which features a dozen forms of typical Vietnamese architecture has become a popular tourism spot.

Arguments have been made that the two structures are below three storeys and located in rural areas so the owners needn't construction permits to build them, but Dang Hung Vo, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment confirmed the two cases violated the law.

The two owners did have land-usage certificates though, Vo surmised. Despite this, the city's planning authorities hold that the areas were designated for planting forests, not for living, so Linh and Chuong's constructions were illegal, he said.

At a press conference yesterday afternoon, Nguyen Huu Nghia, deputy director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment repeated the inspection team's conclusion that the two cases were illegal and had been reported to the city's People's Committee. - VNS






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