VietNamNet Bridge – The forests on Phu Quoc Island, including the forests within ecotourism projects, have been destroyed severely just because local people expect to get the compensation from the State.

A lot of ecotourism development projects have been licensed on Phu Quoc Island. All of the projects cover big areas with vast forests, including primeval forests. After the land was allocated to the investors to develop projects, the forests have been destroyed severely.

Lan Anh Company in June 2008 got the license from the Kien Giang provincial people’s committee to develop the Vung Bau ecotourism site which is expected to cover an area of 267 hectares in Cua Can town on Phu Quoc Island.

In principle, protecting and developing forests is a must for the investors of ecotourism projects. However, in reality, the forests on the land area allocated to Lan Anh Company have been damaged immoderately.

Tien Phong reporters have found a forest in hamlet No. 4 of the project’s area, where trees have been chopped down in an area of 30,000 square meters. Local people cut off the trees in order to receive the compensation from the State.

The compensation could be worth of a fortune for any one. A local resident, pointing to a part of the forest in the Lan Anh Company’s project area, saying that the compensation could be up to two billion dong.

The destroyed forest had been put under the management of the Phu Quoc National Park and Cua Can commune authorities until it was allocated to Lan Anh Company.

A source from the investigation agency has revealed that the compensation money would be taken back, because this is the forest land, while the tree cutting should not be considered as a work to be paid.

Prior to that, in early 2011, tens of big trees with the diameter of 30-50 cm were found chopped down also in the land area allocated to Lan Anh Company to develop the ecotourism project. Most of the trees were the ones belonging to 5-7th groups of timber.

However, it was quite a surprise that the Phu Quoc district localities at a meeting with the leaders of the Kien Giang province, said that the tree cutting was licensed by the commune’s localities and the district’s forest ranger unit.

Meanwhile, Lan Anh Company had no information about the deforestation. Nguyen Phat Luc, an executive of Lan Anh Company, said at the meeting: “I have heard that local people encroached on the forest land area in order to get compensation money. However, we do not pay money directly to farmers; therefore, we do not have detailed information.”

In 2008, Starbay Vietnam Company Ltd got the investment license from the Kien Giang People’s Committee to develop a project on an area of 540 hectares in Ghenh Dau commune, which was then put under the control of the Phu Quoc National Park.

The 1.8 billion dollar project is expected to comprise of many different items, including restaurants, hotels, entertainment areas, golf course and forest ecotourism site. However, while the project is still “lying immovably”, a lot of large pieces of the forests have been devastated.

Reporters found out a lot of big trees lying on the ground, just one kilometer far away from the coastal area. It was still unclear who have destroyed the forests and what for.

When asked about the project implementation, Quoc Anh, Deputy Head of the Board of Management of the Phu Quoc island development, said the provincial leaders try to meet Starbay’s representatives to discuss the issues relating to the project, but they have failed to contact them.

Compiled by Thanh Mai