The detailed construction planning of the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area Project was canceled as reported by Nghe An Newspaper on March 14, 2024 in the article ""Terminating" the suspended project on the southern bank of Vinh River”.
When we learned that Vinh City People's Committee assigned Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee to review the land for the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area project, we contacted them in early March 2024 to get information. According to the leaders of Vinh Tan Ward, the ward had a detailed report in Document No. 114/UBND-DC dated March 1, 2024 to the city. Accessing Document No. 114/UBND-DC, we found that all issues related to the land planned for the construction of the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area project have been clarified.
In the total area of 14.77 hectares planned for the construction of the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area Project, there are many types of land such as unused flat land, rice land, aquaculture land, traffic land, river land, and cemetery land. For agricultural land, Vinh Tan Agricultural Cooperative managed and contracted it to households and individuals for agricultural production purposes before July 1, 2004. Due to the impact of urbanization, the irrigation and drainage system in the area was broken, so most of this agricultural land was flooded in the rainy season and drought in the dry season, so it was forced to be abandoned and could not be used for production. In terms of legality, these agricultural land plots have not been granted a Land Use Right Certificate, but are eligible for a Land Use Right Certificate; when land is recovered, the subjects of recovery are households and individuals. Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee affirmed that although the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area project has existed for 13 years, the investor has not yet carried out an inventory of crop assets, nor has it carried out compensation and support for site clearance.
As for other types of land, all are managed by the State, currently mainly left natural, a part of the water surface area is exploited by people for fish farming; the internal traffic system, cemetery land... are used fragmentedly and ineffectively. The current status of Rao Mang river land is no longer consistent with the detailed zoning plan of Vinh Tan ward approved by Nghe An Provincial People's Committee in Decision 1578/QD-UBND dated May 22, 2020.
Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee determined that the entire area of 14.77 hectares of land has no overlapping status, is not related to other projects; is not located in an area with cultural relics, or in an area with security and defense land planning; has no assets invested or formed from the State budget; according to the Vinh Tan Ward zoning plan approved by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision 1578/QD-UBND dated May 22, 2020, the land is planned as new residential land. Therefore, the assessment is: "The conversion to implement the project will improve land use efficiency, in accordance with the planning and urban development orientation of the locality, on the other hand, it will improve the technical infrastructure system, urban aesthetics and limit environmental pollution in the area".
However, Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee requested Vinh City People's Committee: "When carrying out the request to inspect and survey adjacent investment projects (such as: South - Vinh Riverside Urban Area, East - Vinh Tan Commercial Service Urban Area, West - Resettlement Area for Climate Change...) to carry out the synchronous planning of traffic systems, water supply and drainage and other technical infrastructure items. On the other hand, avoid the situation of land being divided into small, fragmented areas leading to ineffective use and difficulties in management (taking all the remaining area, between adjacent and contiguous projects)".
And at the same time, there is a warning: "Investment in construction of the project on the above land needs to carefully assess the factors affecting the environment and people's lives. Special note: It is necessary to pay attention and carefully check the project implementation elevation with the elevation of the existing residential area, ensure the implementation of technical infrastructure connections, especially drainage elevation, avoid the situation where after connecting the technical infrastructure, the existing residential area cannot drain water but flows back, causing blockage of the flow, local flooding, carefully study the collection and treatment of domestic wastewater".
Looking at Document No. 114/UBND-DC dated March 1, 2024, we see that the proposal of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee is correct and necessary. In fact, since August 2020, we have known about the planning of the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area Project and the Tan An residential area. At this time, people reacted very strongly to the suspended project. The reason is that in Tan An block, there are some families with agricultural land subject to land acquisition for the project, because they believe that they will receive compensation in a short time, they borrow money to buy supplies, and then fall into debt.
Conveying the people's concerns to the People's Committee of Vinh Tan Ward, we learned about the ward's documents reporting to superiors on issues related to the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area project. As in Document No. 319/BC-UBND dated July 20, 2020, the People's Committee of Vinh Tan Ward reported to the People's Committee of Vinh City that many people reflected on the status of suspended planning at People's Council meetings; and recommended "it is necessary to organize an inspection of the capacity of Nghe An Petroleum Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company...". This information was conveyed by Nghe An Newspaper on August 13, 2020 through the article "There is a project to "enclose" land on the southern bank of Vinh River.”.
In 2021, the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area project was on the list of housing projects that the Provincial People's Committee directed to inspect the progress. Because after a while, the Department of Construction proposed that the Provincial People's Committee consider extending the progress of this project (in Report No. 667/SXD-BC dated March 1, 2022), we returned to Tan An block. And what we heard from the households was not only the pent-up frustration about the project's suspension, but also the anxiety about the upcoming rainy season.
Carefully survey their living places and related neighboring areas, clearly understand their concerns. Tan An residential area is a low-lying area compared to Vinh Heritage urban area located next to it. If the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area project is extended, this residential area will be sandwiched between two urban areas, becoming a basin, a water pocket in the rainy season with extremely unpredictable risks. The head of Tan An block, Mr. Nguyen Van Hau, said at that time: "The foundation of Vinh Heritage urban area is 1.5 meters higher than the residential area of Tan An block. If Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area is extended and invested in construction, households in Tan An block will certainly suffer from deep flooding when there is heavy rain. This is an issue that the people and the Executive Committee of Tan An block are worried about. We have made a petition to the ward and at the meeting of the Provincial People's Council delegates with voters, but it has not been considered for resolution yet."
Given the current situation of the project being suspended for 12 years; having been inspected in 2016 and having its progress extended to 2018 to be completed; furthermore, the Vinh River renovation and upgrading project with the goal of creating an urban landscape, helping Vinh city develop strongly to the South has been formed, extending the progress for the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Project without re-evaluating the planning would be extremely inappropriate. Therefore, we have carried out the article "Consider extending the progress of Nghe An Petroleum Urban Project", with the aim of hoping that the competent authority will re-evaluate the detailed construction planning of the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area Project, consider extending the progress; at the same time, direct the inspection and have a plan to handle the shortcomings in the related residential areas due to the impact of urban projects. This goal has many similarities with the proposal of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee at the present time, expressed in Document No. 114/UBND-DC dated March 1, 2024!
As the signatory of Document No. 114/UBND-DC sent to Vinh City People's Committee, Chairman of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee Nguyen Dinh Thanh told us that he had directly surveyed the planning area for the Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area Project, the Tan An residential area and neighboring areas many times. Therefore, he recognized that if only a new project was implemented within the area of more than 14.7 hectares of the previous Nghe An Petroleum Urban Area Project, there would be problems, especially in terms of flooding for the Tan An residential area, consisting of about 100 households. “The Vinh Heritage urban area is more than one meter higher than the Tan An residential area, and other projects that will be implemented in the future will also have the same common ground, including the extended Le Mao street. Therefore, the ward recommends that superiors consider reorganizing this residential area in the direction of a comprehensive survey and synchronous planning to implement a project to comprehensively change this area…” – Chairman of Vinh Tan Ward People’s Committee Nguyen Dinh Thanh discussed.
On March 14, 2024, when we visited the Tan An residential area, we met the Party Secretary, Mr. Nguyen Van Yen. When asked about this content, Mr. Nguyen Van Yen said: “I just joked with the households here that each household should buy two fishing rods and a corrugated iron boat to use during the upcoming rainy season. During the rainy season, when there are floods, we can fish for tilapia at home, and when we need to leave the house, we have a boat. It's a joke, but it's also true because this has become a flood area. In the future, if the city implements small, fragmented projects in this area, the flooding situation will be even more complicated, and people will suffer a lot...".
Talking about the proposals and recommendations of the Ward People's Committee and asking Mr. Nguyen Van Yen: If the superiors plan and rearrange this residential area, will the households agree? Mr. Nguyen Van Yen replied: "I believe that the households will agree". We believe in this. Believe because if the land south of Vinh River is reviewed, re-planned, and implemented by a capable and dedicated investor, it will certainly become a bright spot for Vinh Tan Ward and Vinh City. And because of the actions towards a better future, no one will object!