Delays in handing over emergency relocation project in Vinh City.

An urgent project, yet construction has taken 10 years and it's still not completed.

The reason we can now confidently assert that the emergency relocation and resettlement project for flood-prone areas outside the dike in Hung Hoa commune is one of the most important is...latest migration projectIn Vinh City, the project was approved in 2011-2012, but funding for its implementation only became available in 2020.

Accordingly, the State invested a total of 36.6 billion VND, of which 25.6 billion VND came from the central budget and 10.9 billion VND from the local budget, to level 3,309 hectares in Thuan Hoa hamlet, directly opposite the Lam River dike, to create a concentrated resettlement area, relocating 58 households from Hoa Lam hamlet to live there free of charge.

Mr. Le Van Luong - Head of the Provincial Rural Development Sub-Department (the project's investor) said: The project has been in existence since...Law on Public InvestmentBecause it hadn't been established yet, no funding was allocated. Moving into the 2020-2025 period, with significant effort, the project was re-approved, and construction began on that basis. By 2022, it was essentially completed.

Initially, the project was only intended to relocate 58 households in Hoa Lam hamlet living outside the dike. However, due to slow implementation and the emergence of an additional 24 households, instead of completing the project, a second phase had to be added to invest in infrastructure and provide resettlement land for the remaining 24 households.

Representatives from the Provincial Rural Development Sub-Department also confirmed that with the infrastructure for phase 1 already completed, the project can be handed over to the Vinh City People's Committee to organize the allocation of land for the 58 affected households to build houses.

However, due to the project's requirement to relocate all households to ensure safety, the Project Management Board is currently processing applications for Phase 2 investment to secure resettlement land for 24 newly identified households. Furthermore, to facilitate the relocation of these households, the Project Management Board is submitting an application to the Department of Road Management II (Ministry of Transport) to install guardrails connecting the road leading to the resettlement area to National Highway 46C (the road along the Lam River).

Currently, the Project Management Board is submitting the 1/500 scale planning for phase 2 to the Vinh City People's Committee for approval. After that, they will develop pre-feasibility and feasibility plans for construction, striving to complete and hand over the project within 2023.

From the practical implementation of the project, it was found that the concentrated resettlement project for flood-prone residents outside the dike in Hoa Lam hamlet (now Thuan Hoa hamlet), initially called emergency relocation resettlement, was delayed and prolonged due to the lack of timely funding. Despite the complications and increased costs arising from the additional 24 households affected and requiring land allocation, the project's humanitarian nature led the central and provincial governments to continue providing additional funding to ensure sufficient resettlement land for the 82 affected households.

New difficulties have arisen.

Speaking with us, Mr. Tran Cao Cuong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Hoa commune, said: "Up to this point, the locality has not received any information about the project's handover to allocate land to the residents and organize relocation. However, we have learned that the Vinh City People's Committee has established a working group and assigned specialized departments to advise on a solution. Based on the project's requirements and to ensure the safety of the residents of Hoa Lam hamlet, the locality also hopes that if the project is completed, the residents will be given land to build houses and be safely housed in during heavy rains and flooding."

Upon examining this project, as well as several other projects requiring the emergency relocation of residents from flood-prone and landslide-prone areas, we identified a difficulty for the local disaster prevention and control command. According to Decision 176/QD-TTg on financial support for relocation, households requiring emergency relocation from dangerous areas are only entitled to a relocation allowance of 20 million VND per household. This support level was issued in 2012 and, according to recent announcements, is no longer in effect.

The Prime Minister has delegated the authority to establish new support levels to local governments, but currently, the province has not yet issued regulations, making it difficult for localities to implement and mobilize the people. In discussions with us, households in the flooded area of ​​Hoa Lam hamlet (Hung Hoa) and the landslide area at the foot of Dung Quyet mountain in blocks 1, 2, and 3 of Trung Do ward all stated: Although they know living in their old homes is dangerous and unsafe, and understand that the city's resettlement is for the safety of the people, they lack the money to build new houses because the government's relocation support only covers transportation costs.

On the other hand, it has been learned that currently, in cases where people are forced to relocate urgently, they are allocated land at the new location free of charge, but the law does not yet have provisions for reclaiming or returning the old land. This leads to a situation where, if people receive land at the new location but remain in their old residence, and dangerous consequences arise during storms, how will they be held accountable?

Mr. Tran Quang Lam, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee and Standing Deputy Head of the Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Rescue in Vinh City, said: "This is also a newly arising situation that the city must consider and calculate in order to have a plan to handle it."

In addition to the above difficulties, according to one household in Hoa Lam hamlet, Hung Hoa commune, there is a concern that while people are being resettled for key transportation infrastructure projects such as the extended Nguyen Sy Sach road, the Que Hoa road connecting National Highway 46C through the administrative center of Hung Hoa commune with Nguyen Sy Sach road andIn the Ecopark urban area in Hung Hoa, if land has already been granted a land use right certificate, then when it is reclaimed, an equivalent amount of resettlement land will be allocated. However, in Hoa Lam hamlet outside the dike, some households have already been granted land use right certificates, so they are concerned about the compensation plan for moving to the emergency resettlement area in Hoa Thuan hamlet.

Mr. Le Van Luong, Head of the Rural Development Sub-Department, added: Regarding the above information, during the project's survey and construction process, the Project Management Board collected and calculated data, leading to the proposal to allocate resettlement land for 58 households in phase 1 and 24 households in phase 2. Currently, as the investor, the Sub-Department is focusing on implementing the project according to the approved plan and content; upon completion, it will be handed over to the city for consideration of land allocation and resettlement. The city of Vinh has established a working group to provide advice and conduct research, so a suitable solution will certainly be found to ensure the rights of the people are protected.