Good practice in site clearance for Vinh - Cua Lo boulevard project

(Baonghean) -According to the plan, by December 2017, the site clearance and resettlement work for the Vinh - Cua Lo Road project must be basically completed. In Cua Lo town, Nghi Loc district, this work has achieved many positive results and left many good lessons.

» Vinh - Cua Lo Boulevard Project: The driving force for development and connection

Open, transparent, timely

In Nghi Hoa ward (Cua Lo town), there are about 179 households whose agricultural land is subject to recovery with nearly 19 hectares. Up to now, Nghi Hoa ward has handed over the entire site to the construction unit, and people have received full compensation. Nghi Hoa ward leaders shared that the decisive factor for success in land acquisition and clearance is publicity and transparency, explaining specifically so that people can clearly understand the State's policies and regulations.

Along with that, the entire political system must be mobilized, ward leaders must participate with the blocs in meetings with the people. People's opinions and questions are answered and resolved clearly, so people agree to hand over the land to the contractor for construction. Therefore, up to now, the road passing through the ward has a new look, people have used the compensation money to invest in business, services, and labor export.

In Nghi Loc district, to implement the project, it is necessary to reclaim another 0.1km (length along the road - PV) of agricultural land interspersed with people in Nghi Phong, Nghi Thach, Nghi Xuan communes; reclaim 1.55km of residential land and gardens of 176 households; reclaim 0.45km of 432 graves of 3 communes: Nghi Phong, Nghi Thach and Nghi Xuan. Up to now, the Nghi Loc district Compensation Council has organized to approve extracts and measurements; organized meetings with people to announce compensation policies, announce project planning and select resettlement locations and inventory assets, trees and crops, and approve compensation plans for agricultural land in Nghi Xuan, Nghi Thach, and Nghi Phong communes.

View of the resettlement planning area in Nghi Thach commune (Nghi Loc).

At the same time, we will conduct an inventory of assets, crops, trees, and structures on residential land and garden land for households in Xuan Tinh and Tien Lac hamlets in Nghi Xuan commune. Regarding resettlement, all procedures have been completed and the resettlement area for people in Nghi Thach commune and 2 cemetery resettlement areas in Nghi Thach and Nghi Xuan communes are being built.

According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Tho - Vice Chairman of Nghi Loc District People's Committee, the lesson for the initial success is the close and timely direction of the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee, the People's Council - People's Committee and the drastic participation of the Party Committee and People's Committee of the communes. In particular, the work of propaganda and mobilization of the people is assigned specific responsibilities to each level, each sector and each member.

The propaganda process analyzed the advantages and benefits for people when choosing resettlement areas and well implementing the Party's policies and the State's laws on compensation for land acquisition and clearance. With the motto of giving priority to people who have to relocate to choose land locations in the commune for planning resettlement areas, the District Compensation Council for Land Acquisition and Clearance coordinated with the Nghe An Traffic Project Management Board to guide the Commune People's Committee to organize meetings for each hamlet, distribute opinion polls, and register for resettlement plot numbers after agreeing on the land location, to synthesize and advise the Provincial People's Committee on the policy of surveying and selecting locations for planning resettlement areas. Typically, the two hamlets of Tien Lac and Xuan Tinh in Nghi Xuan commune have about 76 households whose land has been recovered.

Thanks to the mobilization and propaganda work, up to now, most households have agreed to the resettlement plan. Of which, 27 households agreed to resettle with a total of 68 lots, 30 households committed to receiving money to arrange their own accommodation. Mr. Pham Ngoc Duyen - Chairman of Nghi Xuan Commune People's Committee said: Initially, households still had many concerns and did not understand clearly, but after being mobilized and propagated, people agreed to the resettlement plan.

From the practice in Nghi Xuan, it can be seen that, in the work of site clearance, when ensuring the factors of publicity, transparency, timely and complete information, people will agree and comply highly. Moreover, when being explained about the effectiveness of the project when completed, people really want the project to be implemented on schedule.

Need for synchronous participation

The Vinh - Cua Lo Boulevard project is over 10.83km long, passing through the following localities: Vinh City, Nghi Loc and Cua Lo Town. From 2012 to now, the project has allocated 563 billion VND, of which the State Treasury loan is 400 billion VND, the provincial budget is 163 billion VND to implement site clearance on the entire route and construct package No. 5, over 3km long.

Currently, 6.4/10.8km of land clearance has been completed, mainly the sections passing through agricultural land. The remaining clearance volume is about 4.48km. Of which, it is necessary to relocate 652 graves, relocate 370 households, build about 550 resettlement lots and relocate other public works. Thus, there is still a lot of work to be done in land clearance and resettlement; therefore, the experiences from Cua Lo town, Nghi Loc district are valuable lessons for other localities in compensation, clearance and resettlement.

The project section passing through Cua Lo town has been opened, creating a modern landscape. Photo: Pham Bang

It can be said that, in addition to the objective reasons of adjusting capital sources, project scale and lack of consensus from the people, there are still some agencies and localities that have not actively participated in the work of site clearance. Moreover, the work of mobilizing and propagating for people to understand and agree still shows some limitations.

It is an easily seen fact that many localities and officials are afraid of conflict and have not actively carried out their assigned tasks. Therefore, when people do not agree and do not clearly understand the role and significance of the project as well as the compensation policies of the State, there are no appropriate, timely and effective measures to mobilize and propagate.

Investing in building a new road means opening up trade and connecting regions together; wherever the road opens, socio-economic development will follow; this is the right and sustainable benefit that the people there will enjoy.

Therefore, propaganda to raise people's awareness of the common interests of the community is very necessary. In addition to the tasks of local Party committees and authorities, political and social organizations such as the Fatherland Front, mass mobilization, propaganda, etc. need to consider this as a key task to carry out in the coming time.

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Thu Huyen - Pham Bang