It is necessary to ensure the rights of nearly 100 households living temporarily on construction site land in Tuong Duong district.

Contractor sells assets against regulations

On January 7, Mr. Dinh Hong Vinh - Chairman of Tuong Duong District People's Committee said that the locality has issued a document responding to the issue reflected by Nghe An Newspaper in the article.“The desire for housing of nearly 100 households in Yen Na commune living temporarily on construction site land”, posted on December 11. Previously, after Nghe An Newspaper reported, the Department of Information and Communications sent a document requesting the Chairman of Tuong Duong District People's Committee to direct the inspection, verification, clarification of the matter and respond in writing.

According to Mr. Dinh Hong Vinh, 20 years ago, to implement the Ban Ve Hydropower Project, the District People's Committee reclaimed land, compensated for site clearance and handed it over to the investor to carry out construction of the construction site. After the project was completed (since 2012), the investor's responsibility was to return the site to a clean state before handing it over to the local government to put the land fund under management, implement according to the plan, not waste land, and not let people encroach.

However, at that time, the investor and contractors had not yet returned the land to hand over the land, leading to households arbitrarily encroaching on the land to build houses, as well as agricultural production and livestock farming within the project's land area. On the other hand, some contractors arbitrarily sold assets such as worker camps, public houses, medical stations... to local people to build houses against regulations, leading to problems in land handover from then until now.

The leader of the District People's Committee said that after Nghe An Newspaper reported, the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee also had a meeting with Power Generation Corporation 1 (the investor of Ban Ve Hydropower Plant). After that, the parties agreed that the investor would continue to allocate funds to handle the clean-up of the area handed over to the locality for management after handling the assets on the land of the households currently using it. Meanwhile, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong District would continue to preside over and coordinate with the investor and the People's Committee of Yen Na Commune to develop a plan and report to the Provincial People's Committee to request policies to handle problems in cases where people encroach on land to build houses, or due to the purchase of assets from contractors.

According to the leader of the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district, after receiving the policy of the Provincial People's Committee, the investor will arrange funds to hire a consulting unit to conduct cadastral measurements to handle related problems, ensuring the rights of households within the construction site land area returned by the investor to the locality for management.

Hesitating about additional compensation

Also at this hydropower project, at the end of August 2018, heavy rains due to the impact of storm No. 4 caused Ban Ve Hydropower Plant to discharge floodwaters, causing many houses along the Nam Non River to be swept away. At the meeting on March 28, 2019 chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung, a solution was agreed upon. The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to direct the Vietnam Electricity Group to urgently coordinate with the People's Committee of Nghe An province and related localities to review and handle problems in compensation and resettlement support for people in Xop Chao village and damage after storm No. 4 of households in Yen Na commune so that people can soon stabilize their lives.

After that, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district and related agencies surveyed and prepared a budget estimate to support infrastructure construction for the people. Power Generation Corporation 1 (Vietnam Electricity Group) agreed to support the construction of a resettlement area in Xop Chao village with more than 25 billion VND (including traffic items, bridges connecting Xop Chao village with Ca Moong village, and a self-flowing water supply system) and Khe Chong resettlement area to urgently relocate 19 households in Ve village (Yen Na commune) whose houses were washed away by landslides due to the flood discharge of Ban Ve Hydropower Plant with a budget of more than 5.5 billion VND.

However, since then, there have been many official dispatches and reports from Tuong Duong district, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Government Office, etc., but the construction of infrastructure for people in the two above-mentioned villages to stabilize their lives has not been implemented. On August 28, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade reported to Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, proposing to allow Vietnam Electricity Group to support people in resettlement with funds from project investment sources. On October 14, the Government Office issued an official dispatch conveying the opinion of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, requesting the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, and Vietnam Electricity Group to urgently coordinate and implement agreed measures to stabilize people's lives.

However, on November 26, 2024, Power Generation Corporation 1 sent a document to the People's Committee of Nghe An province citing the provisions of the Construction Law and Decree No. 10/2021 stating that this unit "does not have the authority to approve additional resettlement support using project capital whose authority belongs to the Prime Minister".

Immediately afterwards, on December 27, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent a document to Vietnam Electricity Group urging the implementation of additional resettlement support for the Ban Ve Hydropower Project.

In this document, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that on April 13, 2019, the Government Office announced the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung in the meeting to resolve issues after the 2018 flood and the existing problems and obstacles of the project in compensation, support and resettlement. In particular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to direct the Vietnam Electricity Group to urgently coordinate with the People's Committees of Nghe An province and Tuong Duong and Thanh Chuong districts to review the existing problems and obstacles related to compensation, support, resettlement and damage after storm No. 4 of the people in the Ban Ve Hydropower Project area and the affected area of ​​the project. On that basis, consider and handle financial support from the investment capital of the Ban Ve Hydropower Project in accordance with current regulations, in order to help people in the project area overcome the existing problems and obstacles in compensation, support and resettlement.

Also according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, on October 14, 2024, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha also issued a written directive. It stated that, “… based on Report No. 218/BC-BCT dated August 28, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam Electricity Group, and Nghe An Provincial People's Committee, according to their assigned authority, functions and tasks, shall review and handle in accordance with current laws and the opinions of the Government leaders as directed in Notice No. 143/TB-VPCP dated April 13, 2019 of the Government Office; urgently coordinate and implement measures to stabilize people's lives”.

From these documents, the Ministry of Industry and Trade assesses that there is sufficient legal basis for EVN and the People's Committee of Nghe An province to organize the implementation of the contents according to Report No. 218/BC-BCT dated August 28, 2024 on additional resettlement support for the project. The Ministry of Industry and Trade requests EVN to urgently and seriously implement the direction of the Government leaders on providing additional support to people in the project-affected areas according to the tasks and values ​​agreed upon with the People's Committee of Nghe An province.

"In case EVN assesses that the contents of the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha are unclear, EVN is requested to directly report to the Deputy Prime Minister and be responsible to the Prime Minister for the delay in implementing the instructions of the Government leaders," the document of the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated.