Waiting to be resettled, people build temporary houses by Lam River

The project to build a fishing village settlement on Lam River in Thanh Chuong District was approved by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision 6379/QD-UBND-NN dated December 2, 2009 and approved for adjustment in Decision No. 801/QD-UBND-NN dated March 3, 2016 with a total investment of more than 86 billion VND; with Nghe An Rural Development Department as the investor.

It is expected that after the above project is completed, 165 fishing households on Lam River in the district will be able toThanh Chuongwill be relocated to settle down at two resettlement sites in Khe Mu, Thanh Thuy commune and Trieu Duong, Thanh Lam commune.

Khe Mu resettlement site has been seriously degraded, with overgrown trees and grass around the community cultural house. Photo: Tien Dong

The Triều Dương resettlement site was completed and put into use in 2015, providing accommodation for 45 households. However, the Khe Mu resettlement site, which is expected to accommodate 120 households living scattered along the river in the communes of Võ Liệt, Thanh Chi, Phong Thịnh, and Thanh Chương town, is still in an unfinished state, unable to accommodate any households. Many items at this resettlement site have been seriously degraded, with overgrown trees and grass. The road leading to the resettlement site has also been peeled off and eroded. In particular, the Khe Mu community cultural house has now become a place to keep cows.

Inside the Khe Mu community cultural house has long been a place for people to keep cows. Photo: Tien Dong

It is worth mentioning that while the Khe Mu resettlement area has been under construction for many years, right in the area where the fishermen live, the Ro River flows intoLam RiverIn Vo Liet and Thanh Chi communes, people have been building houses ashore for a long time.

According to the locals, even though they know thatillegal construction, but because they waited too long to get to the resettlement area, they had to go ashore to build houses. Because the old boats were all damaged and could not withstand the rainy season, and building new boats was very expensive.

The houses have been built by the people right on the bank of Lam River in Vo Liet commune. Photo: Tien Dong

Mr. Le Van Minh - former chief accountant of Thanh Minh Transport Cooperative (the origin of the fishing village in Vo Liet commune), currently Secretary of the Minh Duc village Party Cell, Vo Liet commune said: From the very beginning, when there was a project to move people ashore to the resettlement site, people were very excited at the prospect of moving. However, year after year they still could not move. Due to the pressing need for housing, people took the risk of going ashore to build houses.

Because the boat was damaged, people had to build their own houses right next to the riverbank to live temporarily. Photo: Tien Dong

According to our records, currently in Vo Liet commune, there are 44 fishing households waiting to go ashore to live in the resettlement area. Of these, 7 households have gone ashore to build their own houses by the river. In addition, in Thanh Chi commune, there are about 7 households that have also gone ashore to build their own temporary houses, and to live on boats.

Some households that have not gone ashore to build houses are living in boats anchored along the Lam River. Photo: Tien Dong

Mr. Bui Xuan Linh - Chairman of the People's Committee of Vo Liet Commune said: Since the project was implemented and through the current survey, people are also looking forward to moving to a new place soon, however, this is still pending... Currently, due to damaged boats, people have built temporary houses to live in. When the resettlement area is completed, they will be forced to move.

Mr. Le Van Luong - Head of Nghe An Rural Development Department, the investor of Khe Mu resettlement area project, said: In 2021, the unit has been allocated capital to implement construction. In the immediate future, we are trying to fix the damage and degradation, then proceed to implement the next items.