The FMCR project is slow in implementation

On the afternoon of August 25, the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development led by Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh had a working session with Nghe An People's Committee on the implementation progress of the “Forest Sector Modernization and Coastal Resilience (FMCR) Enhancement Project” in the province.

the Prime Minister approved the FMCR project’s investment policy in 2018, which was funded by the World Bank (WB) and deployed in eight coastal provinces and cities, including Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thien - Hue. The decided implementation period is from 2018 to 2023 with a total adjusted investment capital of USD 195 million.

Particularly in Nghe An the FMCR project is implemented in 38 communes specifically wards and towns of six districts, towns and cities of Dien Chau, Hoang Mai, Quynh Luu, Nghi Loc, Cua Lo and Vinh city. The project has a total investment of USD 13.403 million, of which IDA capital is USD 9,784 million with a counterpart of USD 3,619 million.

The FMCR project’s objective is to restore, develop and sustainably manage coastal forests in Nghe An province. The project will thereby contribute to restructuring the industry and enhancing resilience, increasing the longevity of the environment, reducing construction, maintenance and repair costs for sea dikes and other coastal infrastructure works. The project also aims to improve livelihoods and increase income for coastal communities through afforestation and forest protection.

However, according to the assessment of the Nghe An province’s Management Board of the FMCR project, project implementation is obstructed by many fluctuations in the forest area compared to the design, which resulted in certain effects on the progress. The Covid - 19 pandemic is also one of the factors that affect the project's afforestation plan.

The identification of objects for the enrichment of terrestrial forests (including poor plantations and natural forests that need additional planting) remains unclear, so there is not enough foundation for the Provincial People's Committee to issue an approval. Some mangrove areas planted in 2021 are dead and underdeveloped. The identification work for the unit price of seedlings faces a number of obstacles that affect the seed supply for the 2022 afforestation period.

The representative of the Central Management Board for Forestry Projects hopes that Nghe An province as well as relevant localities and departments would make efforts to overcome difficulties and speed up the progress of afforestation and implement the approved project items. The project will finish at the end of 2023, so the remaining work is becoming more important and requires efforts from all parties involved, especially when the afforestation season in 2022 is coming to an end.

Hoang Nghia Hieu, Vice Chairman of Nghe An People's Committee, highly regarded the significance of the FMCR project for localities in realizing the goal of restoring, developing and sustainably managing coastal forests, increasing resilience to adverse weather events such as sea level rise in coastal areas.

With the goal of speeding up the implementation progress and soon completing the project, the representative of Nghe An People's Committee called for assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Central Management Board of the FMCR project so as to strengthen coordination with provincial departments and agencies to remove obstacles during the process of implementing the project.

In response to the opinions of Nghe An People’s Committee, Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh agreed with the proposal to report to the sponsoring unit to extend the project's afforestation period to 2026. Regarding the unit price of seedlings, the Deputy Minister proposed Nghe An People's Committee direct the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the provincial FMCR project Management Board to coordinate with the Administration of Forestry and related units to come up with appropriate actions so as not to affect the progress of the whole project.