KHANH HOA — The leasing of water space to foreign enterprises in central Khanh Hoa Province has robbed local people of the chance to make a living from the sea, said Luong Thi Hai, Van Ninh District People's Committee deputy chairwoman.
The firms, – mostly from Japan, Taiwan and Norway – have signed 20-year leases for more than 1,000ha of water surface in Van Phong Bay to raise oysters and fish.
Foreign enterprises have also leased thousands hectares of water area in Van Ninh and Ninh Hoa districts for tourism and shipbuilding.
As a result, many local residents struggle to access the coast to earn a living, Hai said.
Numerous citizens have asked the provincial Natural Resources and Environment Department to lease part of the coast for their own businesses but have been largely unsuccessful.
Dao Van Luong, head of Van Ninh District's Agriculture and Rural Development Office, said only co-operatives and businesses were allowed to lease water area because they were engaged in large-scale production which is more stable than smaller operations.
He added that apart from foreign enterprises, some local co-operatives were allowed to lease water space for business reasons.
Luong added that local authorities required firms to strictly abide by environmental protection regulations or risk having their licences revoked.
"Permission to lease coastal areas is rarely given to local citizens because they are usually engaged in small-scale production, which is hard for local authorities to manage and is easily affected by natural disasters such as storms and floods," he said.
"However, the district has mapped out a plan to allocate water space to local citizens for aquaculture projects but more research needs to be conducted."
Nguyen Tac An, the National Intergovernmental Oceanography Programme Committee chairman, also said that allowing foreign businesses to lease water space had deprived local people of the right to exploit their own territory.
Large-scale water-based businesses could also damage the environment, he said. — VNS
