Need to speed up the progress of Vinh urban infrastructure development project

(Baonghean)The Vinh urban infrastructure development project is scheduled to be implemented from 2012 to the end of 2017 with a total investment of more than 128 million USD. This is a particularly important project that contributes to dramatically changing the face of Vinh City. However, for many reasons, the project is currently behind schedule…

Special Project

The total approved investment of the project is 128,434,641 USD, of which the ODA loan from the World Bank (WB) is 98 million USD, and Vietnam's counterpart capital is 30.43 million USD. The goal is to build and upgrade multi-sector urban infrastructure, including residential infrastructure, environmental sanitation improvement, urban roads, technical support and strengthening the management capacity of urban management agencies.

The project has 4 components, including: Improving services and upgrading basic infrastructure (building technical infrastructure for the Quan Bau Ward Resettlement Area and the Hamlet 5 Resettlement Area, Nghi Phu Commune with a total area of ​​237,420m2; improving sanitation at 32 schools); Improving environmental sanitation through upgrading and renovating the North Canal, building a regulating lake; upgrading and renovating the moat around Vinh Citadel; upgrading and renovating Cua Nam Lake... Building bridges and urban roads (72m Vinh - Hung Tay axis road, building a road connecting National Highway 46 with the Lam River road); Implementing technical capacity building for city officials, departments, branches, etc. and supporting the purchase of technical equipment.

Given the importance of the project, the Provincial People's Committee has established a Steering Committee with the participation of Vinh City leaders, departments of Planning and Investment, Finance, Construction, Natural Resources and Environment, etc., headed by Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Huynh Thanh Dien. Vinh City People's Committee has established the Vinh Urban Infrastructure Sub-Project Management Board.

Behind schedule

According to the Project Management Board, the project implementation plan and necessary procedures have been basically completed. Issues related to site clearance compensation, progress of bid packages, implementation plan in the fourth quarter of 2012, plan for 2013... along with some problems that may arise during the implementation process have been calculated and reported to the Steering Committee. With the counterpart fund allocated at 203 billion VND, the plan until the end of 2012 is to implement site clearance compensation for the North Canal project and site clearance compensation for the resettlement area of ​​Hamlet 5, Nghi Phu commune. Currently, the Project Management Board is coordinating with relevant agencies to submit to the Government a request to reclaim agricultural land for rice cultivation and submit to the Provincial People's Committee a request to compensate for agricultural land interspersed in residential areas in the construction area of ​​the resettlement area of ​​Hamlet 5, Nghi Phu commune.

However, at the meeting in early October 2012 with the participation of all parties, the project was about 3 months behind schedule. The reasons for the delay were the responsibility of the relevant parties (Consultants, Project Management Board, WB sponsor); the quality of the consulting documents was not guaranteed and the WB was slow in reviewing and giving consent before the investor approved; There were some overlaps in road planning; the Project Management Board needed further training to improve its capacity...

Mr. Ha Thanh Tinh - Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee, member of the Steering Committee confirmed the above information and said that currently, the City People's Committee is strongly directing the Project Management Board and the City Land Fund Development Center to urgently carry out compensation and site clearance for the North Canal and the Resettlement Area of ​​Hamlet 5, Nghi Phu Commune. "However, we still have to wait for the Government's opinion on the recovery of rice fields and the Provincial People's Committee's opinion on the site clearance compensation policy".



The North Canal - section through block 11, Ha Huy Tap ward, part of the Vinh urban infrastructure development project, has not been renovated or upgraded.

People waiting

Researching in residential areas along the North Canal and Hamlet 5, Nghi Phu Commune, it can be seen that people are looking forward to the project being implemented. “People are very happy if the State implements the project soon,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong, head of Block 11, Ha Huy Tap Ward: “Because for a long time, the North Canal has been heavily polluted, the canal water is black and full of waste, water hyacinth..., the same goes for both sides of the canal. On rainy and flooded days, dirty water and garbage overflow into houses, giving off a strong stench, making people very upset. Together with Mr. Cuong, we visited two households that will have to be relocated and have part of their garden cut off. Mr. Nguyen Van Sum - house number 73, Nguyen Sy Sach street said that even though he has to relocate, he is not worried because he believes that the State will have reasonable policies, and moreover, "North Canal has been polluted for too long". Mr. Nguyen Quang Ty - house number 65, Nguyen Sy Sach street said: "I don't know how much land will be cut off, but any amount is fine, as long as the project is implemented. If North Canal is renovated, the city landscape will be beautiful and we will no longer live in pollution".

In hamlet 5, Nghi Phu commune, Mr. Dang Xuan Dinh - Chairman of Hung Manh Tien Cooperative, Chairman of Yen Dai Parish Council said that people support the policy of land acquisition to implement resettlement areas but hope that the State will have reasonable policies.

It is known that it is very difficult to have enough counterpart capital to implement the project according to the 2012 plan in the current situation. The Provincial People's Committee had to submit to the Government for advance counterpart capital for ODA projects from the State budget in 2013 with the amount of 100 billion VND and on September 6, the Government approved. Currently, the counterpart capital is sufficient, so the investor - Vinh City People's Committee, Project Management Board... and departments and branches need to take drastic action to speed up the implementation progress of the proposed plan. Otherwise, it means there will be difficulties in disbursing ODA capital, difficulty in implementing the progress committed to the World Bank...