On February 11 and 12, 2023, the loudspeaker of Block 2, Cua Nam Ward (Vinh City) continuously broadcasted a request for households living in collective housing areas to come to the Block Cultural House to listen to the ward announce the draft adjustment of the detailed construction planning at a scale of 1/500 to preserve and restore Vinh Ancient Citadel and to collect comments. "This planning adjustment is extremely important because it is related to land and housing issues of households living in collective housing areas. We request that everyone try to arrange their time to attend in full and on time..." - the Block Leader's voice was clear through the loudspeaker.
Arriving at the Block 2 Cultural House at 7:30 p.m. on February 12, there were already a lot of people there. Most of them were elderly people, around 60 years old, even quite a few were over 70 years old. Everyone was the same, paying close attention to the planning adjustment drawings provided by the consulting unit, or pinned on the walls and bulletin boards of the Cultural House. In some places, because it was dark and the lights were not bright enough, people turned on their phones, carefully looking at the drawings to find the planning location of their new residential area. The campus of the Block 2 Cultural House was bustling with discussions about the width and length of the new residential plot, the width of the traffic road, the expected number of floors to be built, the height of the buildings, etc.
The cultural house in block 2 was built a long time ago, is old and narrow, with only enough seating for ward officials, consulting units and a few dozen households. The rest of the people were standing, sitting or crowding around to look at the planning drawings, so the scene was quite chaotic. But order was quickly restored when the ward leader announced the reason for the meeting and invited the representative of the consulting unit to introduce the planning draft. In block 2, there are 4 residential areas of the Pharmaceutical Technology Company, the Food Company, Construction Site 3 and Factory 8 with a total of 226 households. The Pharmaceutical Technology Company residential area will be implemented according to the planning approved by the competent authority in 2016; the remaining 3 residential areas will be re-planned, including residential land, roads, drainage systems, etc. The residential plots are expected to be about 4.5m wide and 16-18m long. Regarding the height of the building, it is expected to be a maximum of 2 floors, with similar architecture. The height of the floors, architectural details, and colors must be harmonious and consistent...
After receiving information from the consulting unit, the opinions from the people were quite enthusiastic. They agreed because they hoped that the planning would be approved and implemented to eliminate current difficulties, and to have the right to use the land where they and their families have lived for decades. "We have been here for decades. It is extremely difficult. Therefore, I hope the project will be implemented soon" - Ms. Dinh Thi Hoan did not comment but expressed her thoughts. Mr. Pham Huu Nhuan commented: "I agree with the draft of the proposed planning adjustment, both ensuring life and beautifying the landscape. I also propose to implement the planning soon, not to prolong it. I propose that the traffic roads must be paved. Traffic roads and drainage ditches must be built before dividing the residential land plots for the people..." Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Minh Khang commented: "I propose to speed up the project progress. The area of each plot of land should only be from 70 - 80m22. Meanwhile, in this area, there are many houses with 4 generations living together. If only two floors are built, it will not ensure life. So I suggest adjusting the land area, or raising the height of the building…”.
Born and raised in the residential area of Construction Site 3, understanding the feelings of the people, Mr. Dang Quoc Lanh, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Cua Nam Ward, said: "This is the third planning time. This planning time is based on the thoughts and wishes of the people who want to stay. Therefore, the province, the city and the ward had to go to the Central Government, report to the Ministry of Culture about the thoughts and wishes of the people to request for the planning to be adjusted. Therefore, with such an area and such a plan, we ask the people to give their opinions. If you agree, please write it down on the ballot; if you have any concerns, the consulting unit will record them fully to report to the city...".
After the speech of the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Cua Nam Ward, the grounds of the Cultural House erupted in applause. And here, 100% of the households attending agreed with the draft planning.
Also in the Vinh Citadel relic area, in block 3, Cua Nam ward, there are 5 collective housing areas of the Soviet Nghe Tinh Museum, Nghe An Museum, the Provincial Cultural Center and Nghe An Book Publishing Company, and the Sports Training Center with 105 households. Due to the miserable living conditions and the lack of land use rights, in early February 2020, the households submitted a petition to Nghe An Newspaper (reported in the article "Removing the "golden hoop" for 105 households" - Nghe An Electronic Newspaper on February 29, 2020).
Therefore, when we learned that Cua Nam Ward organized a consultation for these households on February 10, 2023, we contacted the representative in the petition, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Son, to get information. Over the phone, Mr. Son said: “In our area, the people completely agree with the new planning draft. Specifically, out of 5 collective housing areas, 4 completely agree, only the collective housing area of the Provincial Cultural Center in residential group No. 8 has not completely agreed. They have some problems, but according to the Group Leader, they are only small problems. I believe that everyone will agree to remove the golden ring…”.
Contacting the People's Committee of Cua Nam Ward, we were informed that at the meeting on February 10, there were 10 opinions in Block 3. In general, the people agreed, only the opinions of 2 households in Group 8 were still stuck. The reason was because they thought that the width of the resettlement land that the consulting unit informed was narrow, only 4m; besides, they made recommendations about benefits when there was a difference between the recovered land and the resettlement land.
To be objective, Cua Nam Ward showed us all the comments from the people that the ward had recorded. Reading these lines, I was really touched. They, as well as the households living in the collective housing areas of Block 2, all wish to enjoy the right to use the land on the land they live on. Therefore, as Ms. Le Thi Xuan, in the collective housing area of the Book Distribution Company, said: “My land and house have been valued since 1990 until now. I really hope that there will be a solution so that we can be granted a certificate of land use rights, so that we can have a stable life. My land is 95m2, if now re-planned to 80m2I also agree with the draft planning. I think people should also agree with each other, we are for everyone. If any household's land is reduced, they should also suffer a little loss for everyone so that the planning can be implemented soon, everyone can soon be granted land use right certificates to stabilize their lives..." Or as Mr. Nguyen Hoang Son's opinion, recorded as follows: "I represent the Nghe An Museum collective housing area. This time, the people's opinions were clearer and more specific, so everyone was excited. The 12 houses in the Nghe An Museum collective housing area do not have a frontage of less than 3.5m, our households agree to resettle on the spot...".
Regarding the concern, Mr. Tran Duc Thanh, also recorded by the ward: "I live in the Central Cultural House collective area. I would like to represent the collective area to give my opinion. As far as I know, resettlement in Vinh city if there are less than 8 people is 150m2, over 8 guns is 200m2. For example, my house is 5m wide and 27m long. If we resettle, the land at the destination should be 7-8m wide. If not, we should keep the current status because the resettlement land plot is 4m wide, which is very small. I suggest the consulting unit to re-survey. In my opinion, we should keep the current status, only households with an area of less than 40m2or width less than 4m then resettlement will be carried out…”.
Meeting with the head of residential group No. 8, Mr. Nguyen Thieu Son, to ask questions. Mr. Son said that on the evening of February 12, 29 households in group 8 met to agree on the draft planning, and then sent a record to relevant agencies. Specifically, 29 households agreed on the on-site resettlement plan, keeping the existing area intact; requesting a plan to open roads for households to travel conveniently, carry out procedures to issue land use right certificates to stabilize their lives, repair houses because they have seriously degraded... "In short, this group also agrees. Our only request is to be resettled on-site, avoiding the situation of demolition and flattening causing damage to the people. Beautifying the landscape and opening roads is right, but only evacuating related households. That is our wish...".
Discussing the concerns of the people of Group 8 with the Chairman of the People's Committee of Cua Nam Ward, Dang Hieu Lam, he replied: “The ward hopes to receive the consensus of all the people, so that the planning will soon be approved by the competent authority. In order to solve the problem of the collective housing area, at the same time, solve the interests of the people. Regarding the concerns raised by the people, the consulting unit has fully accepted them. The consulting unit will review, and any opinions within the permitted scope of regulations will be added to the draft planning. For other opinions, the ward will be responsible for working with the consulting unit to clarify with the people to gain understanding, sharing, and consensus…”.
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Knowing that Nghe An Newspaper has been following the resolution of the concerns and aspirations of 341 households living in 9 collective housing areas in the Vinh Citadel area for 3 years, the leaders of Cua Nam ward showed us the draft explanatory note to adjust the detailed construction planning at a scale of 1/500 to preserve and restore the Vinh Citadel. Here, the viewpoints, orientations, principles, planning ideas... were clearly and coherently informed. Regarding the architecture of the works in the Citadel area, including residential houses, it has been carefully studied, clearly informed, with the requirement that not only not affect, but also harmonize and honor the relics and the general landscape. Therefore, we feel that this is a good planning document.
Regarding some concerns, as Chairman of the People's Committee of Cua Nam Ward Dang Hieu Lam discussed, the ward should clarify with the people to gain understanding and sharing. But I hope to soon reach consensus. I hope to have the same thoughts as Ms. Le Thi Xuan: "I think people should also agree with each other, we are for everyone. If any household's land is reduced, we should also suffer a little loss for everyone so that the planning can be implemented soon, everyone will soon be granted land use right certificates to stabilize their lives".
