Dak Lak(VNS/VNA) - Dozens of hectares of forest were illegally cut down and privateproperties were constructed along National Road 29 in the area between Ea Supand Buon Don districts as authorities admitted they were struggling to stop theencroachment.

The Governmentconfirmed earlier this year that National Road 29, an important routeconnecting Central Highlands localities with south-central coastal areas thathave suffered serious degradation due to floods and overcrowding, will beupgraded to facilitate the flow of goods and boost the economic vitality of theregion.

According to localpeople, the buildings erected on devastated forest land will be used as a basisfor the owners to claim higher compensation from the Government whenconstruction begins. Roadside locations also make for more lucrative businessonce the route begins receiving more traffic.

Large tracts ofnatural forest in subdivision 296 of Cu M’Lan Commune in Ea Sup district werecut down – thousands of trees of different varieties, from highly valuablespecies to common wood with trunk diameters reaching 20-40cm, piledup on the forest floor waiting to be transported away, while their vegetationwas burnt.

On the 2,000 sq.m ofland belonging to a woman who went by the name of Tran Huyen Trang in thesubdivision, there are already three freshly built wooden houses with tin roofs– one serving as a private residence, one marked with a “charity class” plateand another as a shop for agricultural equipment.

Trang told a VietnamNews Agency reporter she bought the land from a Dao ethnic minority man for 200million VND (8,640 USD) with full written proof of land ownership from theprevious owner, but failed to produce the documents.

Some households in thecommune said a group of people, likely working for land speculators, have cometo the area to clear the forest, divide the land and sell the parcels tointerested buyers.

The forest area wasunder the management of the one-member Dak Lak Food Processing and Forestry CoLtd based in Ea Sup district.

Nguyen Van Quyen,deputy director of the company, said the offenders destroyed the forest andconstructed buildings at night and that the local forest rangers wereconstantly understaffed and could not prevent the violations.

Quyen was previouslydisciplined by local authorities for negligence leading to the loss of 10,500hain Ea Sup district as people encroached upon the forest over several years tobuild houses and do agriculture.

Similar scenes of destructioncould also be seen in other forest areas under Ea Sup district and Buon Don district’sprotection forest zone.

Buon Don protectionforest zone’s management board said that in the 10,200ha under its supervision,14ha of forest land running along National Road 29 are at heightened risk ofbeing destroyed. From February 6-23, three hectares of this land were violated.

Le Danh Khoi, head ofthe management board, said the land was the primary target of the offenders,not the trees.

Talking to Vietnam NewsAgency, Deputy Director of the Dak Lak Forest Protection Department Mai Van Kiensaid that after receiving reports on the deforestation along National Road 29,the department ordered forest rangers of Buon Don and Ea Sup districts tobetter co-operate with each other and with local authorities and instructedforest owners to step up patrols at hotspots to prevent further infringements.-VNS/VNA