The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has announced that the recent construction at Cai Ha Mountain inside Trang An Heritage Site in the northern province of Ninh Binh by a local tourism company violated the Culture Heritage Law.

An aerial view of the Trang An Boat Dock in the Trang An Tourism Site in the northern province of Ninh Binh. (File Photo)

At a press conference on March 6, Pham Xuan Phuc, deputy head of the Inspection Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, confirmed that a team of inspectors from the ministry checked the site at Truong Yen commune, Hoa Lu district.

The team saw that the Trang An Tourism Joint Stock Company, directed by Nguyen Van Son, cut into Cai Ha Mountain and constructed a staircase leading up to Huyen Vu Peak. The staircase runs up over 1km long with 2,000 steps and handrails on both sides to serve tourists. The company has also constructed supporting facilities like public toilets.

The act violated the Law of Culture Heritage and Document No 109/2017/NĐ-CP issued on September 21, 2017 by the Government, Phuc said.

The team had a meeting with Ninh Binh province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and local authorities, Phuc said, adding that after reviewing all the company’s papers, the team came into a conclusion that the company constructed at the site without any authorised permissions.

Phuc said the company started the building process in the middle of last year and the site was completed after six months.

During that period, the local authorities and the Trang An Culture Tourism Site Management Board have warned the company against the illegal construction.

Ninh Binh province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has sent four documents to the Hoa Lu People’s Committee to ask the local authorities to stop construction at the site.

The Truong Yen People’s Committee sent five warnings to the company between August and December requesting them to stop building and return the site intact.

However, the company did not follow the prohibition and continued the building, Phuc said. 

The inspectors have also discovered that the company has violated other regulations like hiring tourist guides who have no career permission; using untrained boat drivers and selling an entrance ticket of 45,000 VND (2 USD) per head without permission.

The company has also sold many DVDs at the site and set up instruction signs without permissions.

The company has marked the site “Ancient Trang An” without permission as well.

Considering the above-mentioned violations, the inspection department has asked the Hoa Lu People’s Committee and the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ninh Binh province to stop the operation of the Trang An Tourism Joint Stock Company.

The company will soon have to dismantle the construction and the local authorities will also soon fine involved individuals.

The Trang An Landscape Complex was listed among World Heritage sites by UNESCO on June 23, 2014.-VNA