Lesson 2: Losing land, losing jobs

(Baonghean) - Many farmers hope that after the land is recovered and the factory is put into operation, their children will be able to work in factories and plants right in their hometown. But...

>> Lesson 1: Prolonged waste of land resources

Standing on the leveled land now left abandoned in Hoang Mai Industrial Park, Mr. Nguyen Dang Kha, hamlet 8, Quynh Loc commune sighed: When we were propagandized and mobilized to give up land to build the industrial park, my family, like other families in the hamlet, enthusiastically supported. My family had 4 sao of rice land, but the State reclaimed 3 sao, leaving 1 sao in the arid land. We always hoped that after the industrial park went into operation, our children would have stable jobs. But for nearly 4 years, only Ke Dat Iron and Steel Company has been in operation. Mr. Kha pointed to the land that used to be his family's rice field, adding: "Although the income from growing rice and other crops is not high, the family's income is always stable." Of the 240 million VND that was compensated, he used a part to pay off the debt, renovate the house, divided a little among his 4 children, and then it was all gone.

Sharing the same situation as Mr. Kha's family, Mr. Nguyen Van Hien's family in Hamlet 8, Quynh Loc Commune said: "My family had 2 sao of land confiscated but have not received any money yet. Meanwhile, the investor has already filled the land and leveled the ground, so we cannot produce even if we want to." Mr. Hien was compensated for 700 square meters of reclaimed land for nearly 100 million VND, but according to him, that amount of money is not enough for him to pay off the bank loan or get married for his son: "They have not paid yet, but the initial promise to create jobs for local children has not been fulfilled yet." To give up land to build Hoang Mai Industrial Park, more than 1,000 households in Quynh Loc Commune had their agricultural land confiscated. Of which, the number of working-age workers whose jobs are affected is more than 2,000 people. In addition to 4 enterprises (3 enterprises existed before the planning), most of the area of ​​the Industrial Park is vacant land.

Because it is in the planning area, many houses of Quynh Loc commune residents, although degraded, have not been repaired.

In the Nam Cam Industrial Park in Nghi Loc district, although it has been in operation for nearly 8 years, the number of local workers working in factories and enterprises is very small. Nghi Long commune has 83 hectares of land reclaimed to build Nam Cam Industrial Park, with more than 700 workers of working age affected in terms of employment. However, in the past 8 years, only more than 5% of them have jobs and mainly work at Matrix Company Limited and Minh Anh Garment Joint Stock Company (Bac Vinh Industrial Park). Mr. Nguyen Cong Tu, hamlet 1, Nghi Long commune said: “In 2004, my family had 4 sao of rice land confiscated and was compensated with more than 60 million VND. The compensation money was gone after just over a year, but my son still has no stable job. When they first started operating, companies posted notices recruiting workers, but when they submitted their applications, no one was accepted. In the whole hamlet, only 1 person was accepted to work at the Hanoi Beer Factory, but “you have to know someone to get in there”. There are 5 more workers working at the Viet Trung Ice Factory and 6 workers working at the Hanoi Beer Factory, but these 11 workers are only seasonal workers.

Unable to work in factories in the industrial park, thousands of workers whose land was confiscated had to struggle to find jobs to support themselves and their families. There was very little land left for production, so Mr. Kha's three sons had to go to the South to work as laborers. Mr. Hien's family also had three sons who had to work in all kinds of jobs. He said that if only one of his children had a job near home, he and his wife would not have to work so hard and suffer like this.
Of the nearly 2,000 workers in Quynh Loc commune affected by the Hoang Mai Industrial Park project, up to now, about 500 people aged 18-35 have had to leave their hometowns to work in many places. Most of them go to the South to work as workers, only a few go to work abroad. Mr. Le Duy Trung, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Loc commune (Quynh Luu) said: After the land was recovered, the need for jobs for workers in the commune is very large. Initially, the whole commune had about 20 trucks, but because they could not operate, they sold them, leaving only 5. Some others opened stores but lost money so they had to close them. Therefore, going to the South to work as workers is the only way for local workers at the present time.

About more than 90% of the workers whose land was recovered for the Southeast Economic Zone of Nghi Long Commune (Nghi Loc) are struggling to find their own way: going to the South to work as workers, construction workers, going to Vinh City to work for hire, pooling capital to buy passenger cars... Mr. Nguyen Cong Canh, head of Hamlet 1, Nghi Long Commune (Nghi Loc) said: The whole hamlet currently has 9 passenger cars, these are assets contributed by many people to both increase income and create jobs for the brothers in the family.

Currently, the lives of people whose land has been reclaimed are facing many difficulties. Their income depends only on the money sent home by their children working far away or on income from afforestation. To earn more income, some households have taken advantage of going into the industrial park to produce on areas where investors have not yet filled in the soil or leveled the ground. In Quynh Loc commune (Quynh Luu), although there is no policy from the commune, hundreds of households have gone into the industrial park to plant stakes and string up steel wires to hold the land in a "do-it-yourself" manner. People are "reclaiming" the land that used to belong to their families. However, because they do not know when the investor will reclaim it, people only work as they can, not daring to invest, so productivity and economic efficiency are not high. This situation also occurs in hamlets 1 and 2 of Nghi Long commune (Nghi Loc); but only households with land carry out production. This leads to a paradox, while investors have land but leave it fallow, people are "thirsty" for land to produce when that "fallen land" is right before their eyes.

Q.Lan – P.Bang