To remove obstacles in site clearance for VSIP Project

(Baonghean) - The VSIP project is being urgently implemented on the 178 ha area that has been handed over, of which 150 ha in Hung Tay commune (Hung Nguyen) has been handed over in phase 1A. However, in the 150 ha of phase 1A that have been handed over, there are still some difficult-to-resolve problems. It is worth mentioning that currently 100% of the people have agreed to hand over 60 ha of phase 1B but have not yet implemented compensation payment according to the committed time limit. Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Mr. Nguyen Van Thu - Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the Commune People's Committee to get more information on this issue.

Construction of VSIP project items. Photo: Sy Minh

PV:Sir, it is known that there are still some problems on the area of ​​more than 150 hectares in phase 1A that have not been resolved. Could you provide more information on this issue?

Mr. Nguyen Van Thu:Up to now, the site clearance work in phase 1A has basically been completed, the construction unit is also urgently constructing on the areas that have been handed over, however, to hand over 100% of the area of ​​150 hectares, there are still some problems. Because it requires a large amount of funding, but the funding source is very limited, it cannot be balanced. As for the people, it comes from the fact that they are very "impatient" because the entire "two-rice" area has been handed over, many households do not have land for production, they really want to have support to be able to restructure their industries.

And in the area of ​​phase 1A, there are still the following problems: First: There is currently no plan to relocate 5 cultural houses of 5 hamlets because in reality, the commune has found land to relocate but currently there is no more public land. The fund is only available to some households but the cost to compensate for this land is very large. And we have carried out propaganda steps but the people have not agreed to sacrifice their land to build a cultural house. Second: The commune's stadium has been arranged but there is no funding to rebuild it.

Third: In the area of ​​1A, there are 36 resettlement plots, auctioned but currently the records have not been completed, compensation for land acquisition has not been made because a new relocation location has not been found and the people's wish is only "land for land". Fourth: There are 10 mausoleums and 30 earthen graves located along National Highway 46B in the area of ​​phase 1A. Of the 10 mausoleums, 9 mausoleums are proposed to be moved to a new location and 20 of the 30 earthen graves are requested to be moved to a new location.

Currently, the new location has not been built yet so it cannot be relocated. Fifth: There are 5 plots of land of Khoa Da parish and Phuc Long parish that request compensation and support like land 64 of individual households while the plots of land were handed over to the parish before the 1980s and called crop land to get funds to support "oil lamps" for the parishes. And by 2002, the ownership was assigned to the heads of the parish committees. And the project compensation board only agreed to the support level for collective land without the additional support twice like individual land. Currently, we are also proposing a compensation plan for households.

Planned road in the project area. Photo: Sy Minh

PV:So what is the sticking point that you think is the most difficult to resolve? And why?

Mr. Nguyen Van Thu:That is the sticking point of the 5 cultural houses. Because besides the reason of not finding the land fund, the main reason is that the people request to immediately receive the compensation fund for the 1B phase of land acquisition and clearance before accepting the relocation of the 5 cultural houses. Because the fund to build the cultural house in the hamlet is mostly contributed by the people. And why do the people want to quickly receive support for the 1B area? Because, when 1A is recovered, the internal irrigation traffic is divided, the remaining part in 1B therefore cannot be produced, the State has not recovered the land, so the land is still left fallow. Therefore, the impatient people have their reasons.

This is considered a rare occurrence in land acquisition and clearance work. Usually, people in many places do not agree to hand over the land for some reason. But in Hung Tay commune, they handed over as soon as the policy was announced and almost did not ask any questions or make any recommendations. They just wanted to receive support soon. And if they did not pay immediately for the land area 1B that they agreed to hand over, they would not agree to remove the bottleneck in the previous stage.

PV:So what recommendations has the commune made to resolve this most difficult problem?

Mr. Nguyen Van Thu:We have proposed to the district to submit to the provincial People's Committee a plan to support compensation costs for phase 1B. And the district replied that the province has not yet arranged it.

The budget to support compensation for land acquisition at VSIP project includes 70% from the investor and 30% from the State budget. However, we know that this State budget is still not balanced. We explain to the people that the State is very eager to pay for land acquisition because of its urgency. The local government is even more “impatient”, and there is no reason why if there is a budget, the local government will not arrange to pay.

Construction of underground wastewater drainage system. Photo: Sy Minh

PV:Faced with common financial difficulties, what steps has the commune taken to promote understanding and sharing among people, thereby taking positive actions to resolve these obstacles?

Mr. Nguyen Van Thu:Right from the beginning, we have prepared and implemented quite carefully and scientifically to help people understand the meaning of having a large provincial project in the locality. And what direct benefits has this project brought to the people? Such as job opportunities for children, opportunities to change the industry structure.

Initially, although most of the people agreed with the compensation plan, there were still some households who did not agree with the price. The households thought that the payment of only 57,000 VND/m2 was too low compared to the price of 85,000 VND/m2 that the project itself paid to households in Hung Chinh commune located in the project's affected area. However, when we came to persuade the households who did not agree and explained to them that: Hung Chinh is an area under Vinh city, so the price paid by the State is at a higher level, the people understood.

Then, also from the local proposal, households with "two-rice" land that were affected were supported twice more than the initial compensation support cost from 57,000 VND/m2 to 172,000 VND/m2, making people extremely excited.

On the one hand, we have proposed to the higher authorities about the funding source to pay the people immediately. On the other hand, we have also directly communicated to the Party cell secretary, hamlet chief and many households in the area to make them understand and share the financial difficulties of the local government for the 30% source that must be self-paid. I believe that with the participation of the entire political system from the district to the commune, we will achieve certain results.

PV:Thank you!

Thanh Nga(Perform)