According to the reporter, the incident of a household building a fence encroaching on public land occurred since the first days of the new year 2024 and was reported to the investor as well as the Vinh Tan ward authorities. Afterwards, an inspection team was established to remove the fence. However, the public space was not returned because the plants, rockery, and miniature landscape remained intact; and the leveling activities continued. The reporter said: “The incident occurred at the Vinh Tan Ward New Urban Area, invested by TECCO Group Nghe An Branch. As residents living here, we are very upset when public space is occupied and not handled thoroughly by the authorities and functional agencies…”.
When arriving at the location of the incident, which is a public land adjacent to two internal roads in Vinh Tan New Urban Area, about 200m from the ward headquarters, there was a situation as the reporter had discussed. On the public land, there was a plot of land about 100m wide.2Along the road, there is a situation of digging holes to fill the soil to plant some new old trees, build miniature landscapes, and scattered construction materials such as gravel, bricks, etc. Looking at the overall public land area in this street, the sidewalk has not been paved with bricks, there is a situation of building metal frames to store vehicles, etc.; in addition, the houses built by households along the road lack uniformity in design, so they are very unsightly, not at all commensurate with the name of the New Urban Area.
Minutes of the current status inspection 433/BB of the Vinh City Urban Order Management Team established on January 3, 2024, showed that after the inspection, the City Urban Order Management Team commented: "The owner of land lot LK5-01, plot number 515, map sheet number 8, area 193.3m2Vinh Tan New Urban Area project is leveling the ground, planting trees (in front of the house yard) on the land according to the detailed planning 1/500 which is the green space of the project that has been approved". The Vinh City Urban Order Management Team also requested the violators: "Do not build or renovate the land that has been planned as the green space mentioned above for personal use"; at the same time reminding the project investor, TECCO Group Nghe An Branch, to "construct in accordance with the approved planning".
Forwarding the citizen's opinion to Vinh Tan ward authorities, it was confirmed that the ward did not cover up the violation. However, the person in charge confirmed that there were difficulties in the handling process. The reason was that the violation occurred within the scope of the New Urban Area project; the technical infrastructure of roads, sidewalks, lighting systems, etc. had not been completed and did not meet the conditions for handover, so the ward authorities did not have the authority to handle it according to regulations. This officer also said that because of not having enough authority, on January 5, 2024, Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee issued Notice No. 10/TB-UBND to the Vinh City Urban Order Management Team, investors, and related individuals; at the same time, to report to the City People's Committee, the Urban Management Department, etc.
See Notice No. 10/TB-UBND, here Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee said that it had inspected and discovered the construction of flower beds, planting trees, and embankment on sidewalks, traffic land, trees... (public land) in the land area in front of lot LK5-01, adjacent to TECCO roundabout; then, reported to the City Urban Order Management Team for inspection and made Record No. 433/BB.
Due to the continued illegal construction activities, the People's Committee of Vinh Tan Ward announced: "Using public land for construction, using for other purposes such as: Business, encroachment, obstructing people's travel, obstructing other public activities is a violation of the law"; "Individuals and organizations that are not assigned land, do not have the authority to arbitrarily carry out construction activities on public land and other activities contrary to the provisions of law on public land are strictly prohibited".
At the same time, request TECCO Group Joint Stock Company: Based on the planning of Vinh Tan New Urban Area to manage, use and construct items on land assigned by the State in accordance with the approved planning. In case the investor or other individuals or organizations encroach on the assigned land for purposes other than those assigned by the State, they will be fully responsible before the law and will be strictly handled. Also here, Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee continued to request the Vinh City Urban Order Management Team to "inspect and handle the above activities according to their authority".
Regarding the investor - TECCO Group Nghe An Branch, after the Vinh City Urban Order Management Team made Minutes No. 433/BB, they issued documents on related content twice. The first time on January 10, 2024 was to request the owner of land lot LK5-01 to return the land according to the approved planning. The document affirmed that according to the planning of Vinh Tan New Urban Area Project, the land in front of land lot LK5-01 is the internal yard of the project. And the owner of land lot LK5-01 renovated and raised the ground higher than the sidewalk level; built a wall about 30cm high and 20m long extending from the land lot to the end of the sidewalk; planted trees, and made miniature landscapes on the premises, leading to a violation of the planning, affecting the urban landscape architecture.
The second document of TECCO Group Nghe An Branch issued on January 19, 2024, was sent to the Vinh City Urban Order Management Team and Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee with a request to take measures to handle households that illegally constructed on the internal yard of Vinh Tan New Urban Area Project.
It is stated here that, in order to implement the request of the Vinh City Urban Order Management Team in Minutes No. 433/BB-QLTTĐT and Notice No. 10/TB-UBND of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee, TECCO Group Nghe An Branch has sent a document requesting the owner of land lot LK5-01 to return the land according to the planning; and has also worked directly. However, due to the lack of sanctions to handle, the owner of the land lot has not yet cooperated. "We request that your agency take coercive measures against the owner of the land lot to soon return the land according to the approved planning" - TECCO Group Nghe An Branch requested.
Thus, it can be seen that the three related organizations, including TECCO Group Nghe An Branch, the City Urban Order Management Team and Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee, all determined that the behavior of the owner of land lot LK5-01 was a violation of the law, and all requested that this person return the land. However, the reality is showing signs of "passing the buck", especially from the side of TECCO Group Nghe An Branch. The reason for saying so is because the current situation shows that the violation was slowly discovered to have preventive measures; besides, the current situation of the entire street also shows that the project's technical infrastructure in this area is still weak and unfinished, as the representative of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee reflected. Regarding the construction activities on public land of the owner of land lot LK5-01, it is affirmed that it is a violation of the law, but from the current situation of the entire street, it shows that the investor is partly at fault, because he has not completed the construction of the internal yard and road.
Therefore, it is recommended that TECCO Group Nghe An Branch, with the responsibility of the Investor, must build the internal yard of the street according to the approved planning and design. At the same time, it is recommended that Vinh City People's Committee direct the City Urban Order Management Team and Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee to coordinate with TECCO Group Nghe An Branch to handle violations and request the owner of land lot LK5-01 to return the public land area that was illegally built to its original state.