Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministryof Culture, Sports and Tourism has announced that the recent construction at CaiHa Mountain inside Trang An Heritage Site in the northern province ofNinh Binh by a local tourism company violated the Culture Heritage Law.

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

The team saw that the TrangAn Tourism Joint Stock Company, directed by Nguyen Van Son, cut into Cai HaMountain and constructed a staircase leading up to Huyen Vu Peak. The staircaseruns up over 1km long with 2,000 steps and handrails on both sides to servetourists. The company has also constructed supporting facilities like publictoilets.

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

The team had a meeting withNinh Binh province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and localauthorities, Phuc said, adding that after reviewing all the company’s papers, theteam came into a conclusion that the company constructed at the site withoutany authorised permissions.

Phuc said the companystarted the building process in the middle of last year and the site wascompleted after six months.

During that period, thelocal authorities and the Trang An Culture Tourism Site Management Board havewarned the company against the illegal construction.

Ninh Binh province’sDepartment of Culture, Sports and Tourism has sent four documents to the Hoa LuPeople’s Committee to ask the local authorities to stop construction at thesite.

The Truong Yen People’sCommittee sent five warnings to the company between August and December requestingthem to stop building and return the site intact.

However, the company didnot follow the prohibition and continued the building, Phuc said.
The inspectors have alsodiscovered that the company has violated other regulations like hiring touristguides who have no career permission; using untrained boat drivers and sellingan entrance ticket of 45,000 VND (2 USD) per head without permission.

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

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

Considering theabove-mentioned violations, the inspection department has asked the Hoa LuPeople’s Committee and the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of NinhBinh province to stop the operation of the Trang An Tourism Joint StockCompany.

The company will soon haveto dismantle the construction and the local authorities will also soon fineinvolved individuals.

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