HCMC – The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has proposed allowing the temporary use of forest land for the construction of supporting facilities needed for road and railway projects of national importance, including the North-South high-speed railway and the Lao Cai–Hanoi–Haiphong railway.
The proposal was included in a draft amendment to Decree No. 156/2018, aimed at removing bottlenecks and ensuring timely project implementation. The draft suggests legalizing the temporary use of forest land for building traffic infrastructure, such as equipment transport routes, material areas, and track installation sites.
The ministry said that this provision would facilitate the smoother execution of major infrastructure projects, particularly those already approved by the National Assembly and permitted to enjoy special policy mechanisms.
Under the proposal, the forest areas would only be used during the construction process and would not be permanently converted. Once work is completed, the land would be restored, reforested, and handed back to forest management authorities.
Currently, Decree No. 27/2024 allows temporary forest land use for electricity grid projects but does not cover traffic infrastructure projects. The ministry emphasized the urgent need to update the regulations to reflect the practical requirements of large-scale infrastructure development.
According to reports from 39 provinces and cities, only two of them—Nghe An and Quang Nam—have approved projects that temporarily use forest land for power transmission. These include three projects in Nghe An covering 6.78 hectares and one in Quang Nam spanning 1.33 hectares.
The Government aims to begin work on nine railway lines by 2030 and expects to open four more sections of the North-South Expressway by April 30.
