Ministry of Agriculture and Environment proposes many solutions to overcome material shortage

(Chinhphu.vn) - Recently, many localities have encountered a shortage of materials to construct development investment projects in the area, especially infrastructure and transport construction projects. The Law on Geology and Minerals, which will take effect from July 1, 2025, is expected to resolve this difficulty.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is coordinating with ministries, branches and localities to develop and submit to the Government for consideration and promulgation of a Resolution on specific mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties in the scarcity of construction materials.

Talking to the press about this issue, Deputy Director of the Department of Geology and Minerals (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) Tran Phuong said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is coordinating with ministries, branches and localities to develop and submit to the Government for consideration and promulgation of a Resolution on specific mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties.

The root causes of material scarcity

On March 1, the Prime Minister issued Directive No. 05 on key tasks and solutions to promote economic growth and accelerate disbursement of public investment capital, ensuring the national growth target of 8% or more in 2025. In particular, the Prime Minister directed ministries, agencies and localities to "promote progress, completely remove difficulties in supplying construction materials, accelerate investment preparation, investment decisions, and selection of contractors for key national projects and works, and construction investment projects in the area". This is one of the important and key instructions under the task of "Promoting disbursement of public investment capital, taking public investment as the leader, activating and attracting all social resources", 1 of 8 key tasks and solutions in Directive No. 05 of the Prime Minister.

In recent times, many localities have encountered a shortage of materials for construction of development investment projects in the area, especially infrastructure and transport construction projects. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has coordinated with the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities to collect information and assess the causes leading to the above situation.

According to Mr. Tran Phuong, there are many reasons for this scarcity. Firstly, due to natural conditions, only some areas in the province have natural sand resources, other areas have to be transported from neighboring areas, increasing costs and limiting supply capacity; sand and gravel from riverbeds and streams in some mountainous provinces mainly have small reserves, accumulating seasonally. However, the procedures and order of granting licenses for exploration and exploitation of sand for common construction materials for these small, scattered locations are still complicated, making it difficult to grant mining licenses.

In addition, the selection of auction methods and the number of auction rounds are not suitable, leading to investors having a price-competition mentality, pushing up prices; most river sand mines are small to medium in scale, so the deposit is still low and the winning investors are willing to forfeit their deposits and not put the mine into operation.

Another reason pointed out by Mr. Tran Phuong is that many mines after being licensed have not been in operation or have had to stop operating due to the lack of sand mining vessels and boats that are registered according to regulations; problems with land procedures, renting gathering places; mining has been stopped to measure and determine remaining reserves and assess the risk of landslides on river banks and beaches; or the organizations and individuals mining minerals are being prosecuted and investigated by competent authorities due to violations related to mineral activities, so they cannot put the mine into operation or stop mining. "The fact that most mines are slow to put into operation or stop mining has affected the supply of sand for constructions, projects and people's needs in the province, leading to scarcity and price increases; large-scale highway construction projects and key projects have a huge demand for sand and stone materials."

Although a special mechanism is applied in mineral exploitation for the project, some project contractors do not proactively prepare documents to request exploitation according to the special mechanism but instead purchase materials at commercial mines, leading to a shortage of stone, sand, etc.

Propose 4 groups of solutions to remove obstacles

Mr. Tran Phuong said that according to the assessment, the provisions of the new Law on Geology and Minerals, the 2024 Land Law and Decree No. 193/2025/ND-CP of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Geology and Minerals have basically removed the procedures for granting mineral exploitation licenses such as: The order and procedures for granting licenses to exploit minerals for common construction materials have been simplified and suitable for practice.

In addition, mineral areas providing raw materials and materials for important national projects, urgent public investment projects, works and construction items under national target programs will continue to be included in the criteria for zoning non-auction areas; regulations on deposits for group IV mineral mines and minerals such as sand and gravel in riverbeds, lakebeds and sea areas will be adjusted upward.

However, current reality shows that it is still necessary to continue to improve policies and laws on geology and minerals, limit scarcity, stop hoarding, and push up prices of common construction materials and filling materials, and ensure the progress of key and urgent projects.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment is coordinating with the Ministries of National Defense , Public Security, Justice, Finance, Construction, Industry and Trade, and provinces and cities to develop and submit to the Government for consideration and promulgation a Resolution of the Government promulgating specific mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties in implementing the Law on Geology and Minerals in 2024; including proposing 4 major groups of contents on Group IV minerals.

Specifically, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment plans to propose expanding the subjects not subject to auction of mineral exploitation rights for mineral areas used as common construction materials to supply important national works and projects; key projects; public investment projects; urgent construction works and urgent tasks according to the provisions of the law on construction; investment projects implemented under the public-private partnership (PPP) method.

According to Mr. Tran Phuong, the granting of exploitation licenses in this case is carried out in two directions: Granting directly to investors and contractors for project and construction works (suitable for large projects); granting to organizations and individuals qualified to exploit and supply for many of the above mentioned projects and construction works (suitable for small projects and construction works).

The second group of contents is to supplement regulations on increasing the exploitation capacity of common construction material mines with extremely simple procedures in case of supplying common construction materials for the above projects and works.

Third, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment proposed to amend a number of legal provisions related to the exploitation of minerals for common construction materials such as procedures for deciding or approving investment policies; appraisal and approval of appraisal results of environmental impact assessment reports, and granting of environmental licenses.

Along with that is the proposal to adjust the annual land use plan to suit the actual situation, promptly providing for important national works and projects, key projects, public investment projects; urgent construction works, urgent tasks according to the provisions of law on construction, PPP projects.

The last group of contents is to exempt administrative procedures on exploration and exploitation of minerals for common construction materials when responding to emergency situations related to natural disasters, epidemics, security, and national defense to ensure timely supply of materials to respond in these cases.

Thu Cuc

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/bo-nnmt-de-xuat-nhieu-giai-phap-go-vuong-khan-hiem-vat-lieu-102250905173211593.htm