The project has not yet been compensated for site clearance but is almost completed.
(Baonghean.vn) - The primary school expansion project started construction in September 2022, but the local people were unaware, even though this area is their agricultural land. After nearly a year, the project is about to be completed, but the investor has not yet completed the compensation and site clearance work.
"First kill, then report"
For many days now, Nghe An Newspaper reporters have continuously received complaints from 12 households in Hamlet 5, Nghi Kim Commune (Vinh City), expressing their frustrations regarding the Nghi Kim Primary School expansion project. These are households with agricultural land in Dong Truong field, which is planned to build projects such as expanding Nghi Kim Primary School, expanding Nghi Kim Kindergarten and building the Nghi Kim Commune Police Headquarters. In particular, the Nghi Kim Primary School expansion project has been started nearly a year ago and is about to be put into operation, but until now, compensation and site clearance work has not been completed. The investor of these projects is the Nghi Kim Commune People's Committee.
According to the reporter's observation, this agricultural land has a very favorable location, located right in the center of Nghi Kim commune. One side is adjacent to 3 schools, one side is adjacent to a newly built high-rise residential area, the other 2 sides are adjacent to the main roads of the commune. Most of these plots of land have been granted Land Use Rights Certificates to the people by the People's Committee of Nghi Loc district and Vinh city for a long time.
Ms. Vu Thi Minh (72 years old) said that her family has more than 1 sao in this area, cultivating it since the 60s of the last century. “Previously, rice was grown in October and peanuts were grown in May. This was the most productive peanut field in Nghi Kim commune in the past,” Ms. Minh said. However, in recent years, due to urbanization, this field has gradually become barren, and since 2018 it has not been possible to continue cultivating.
“Due to objective conditions such as urbanization, such as investment in building infrastructure, houses, and housing projects, schools nearby, the irrigation system was broken, turning the land into a low-lying area. The land was also polluted due to the impact of wastewater from schools and neighboring households. This led to low rice productivity, and people gradually gave up investing in production,” the report of the Commune People's Committee also stated.
In September 2022, the Nghi Kim Primary School expansion project began. When the construction unit brought in machinery to dig the ground to build the school, the people just found out that the agricultural land was being reclaimed to build the school. “That day, we happened to pass by and saw the machinery coming to work. The land reclamation for the school is absolutely supported by all of us, but we must also be informed about the plan and compensation plan. But the construction is being carried out quietly like that, which is disrespectful to the people, because we have been granted a land use right certificate by the State there,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Que (62 years old).
Representatives of households who were then regularly present at this project asked the investor, Nghi Kim Commune People's Committee, to explain. According to the video recorded by the people, on November 20, 2022, a leader of Nghi Kim Commune stood in front of the households, asking for their understanding and handing over the site to the construction unit to keep up with the progress. At the same time, he promised the households that he would compensate them before Tet at a price of 170 million VND/sao. However, by the end of the year, the people still had not seen the compensation money, so they went to the commune People's Committee headquarters to ask. After that, the construction unit gave each household whose land was affected 500,000 VND. Up to now, nearly a year has passed, and these households have not received compensation for site clearance.
Support price problem
Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Mr. Nguyen Van Khiem - Chairman of Nghi Kim Commune People's Committee admitted that the commune was subjective in the process of implementing this project. "We thought that sooner or later, the people would be compensated, some other projects in the area were carried out like that before and there were no problems. After that, we also had a dialogue with the households, hoping that they would sympathize and ask to construct first, then compensate later to keep up with the progress", Mr. Khiem said.
According to Mr. Khiem, because Nghi Kim Primary School has a large number of students and a lack of classrooms, since 2021 the commune has requested permission to establish a project to expand the school. “According to the process, the land must be recovered and cleared before construction can begin. But at that time, Nghi Kim commune was striving to be recognized as meeting advanced new rural standards. Among them, there is the education criterion, if only 1 out of 3 schools does not meet the standards, the commune will not be accepted. If the school is not completed, the education criteria will not be met, so construction must be carried out urgently,” Mr. Khiem explained.
According to the reporter's records, up to now, the 3-storey building with 18 classrooms has completed the rough construction. The area of this building is more than 600 m2, almost all of which are built on people's agricultural land. In addition, the school yard in front of the building also occupies more than 2,000 m2agricultural land. According to the representative of the construction unit, due to the people's anger and obstruction, the project was delayed for 2 months. This building is expected to be put into operation when the new school year begins. The total investment of the building is more than 14 billion VND, not including compensation for site clearance and construction of the school yard in front.
According to the Chairman of Nghi Kim Commune People's Committee, after the dialogues, the people sympathized with the commune and agreed to let the contractor complete the construction on schedule. However, the issue that made the people upset later was that the compensation price was too low. Accordingly, on June 27, the Provincial People's Committee issued a document agreeing with the Department of Finance's dispatch on the proposal of support for households equal to twice the agricultural land price according to the land price list. "Thus, each sao is only supported with 85 million VND. The reason for such a small support given by the Department of Finance is that the land has not been used for 12 consecutive months," said Mr. Khiem.
Regarding this project, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment previously commented that “to ensure fairness and ensure the rights of households whose land has been recovered by the State for the project, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment agreed on a different support policy. The Department of Finance is requested to consider the specific level of support, ensuring that it is the same as similar projects whose land has been recovered in Nghi Kim commune”.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Khiem - Chairman of Nghi Kim Commune People's Committee, in the coming time, the commune will continue to submit a proposal to the Department of Finance to consider and increase the support level for people whose land is affected. "Around there, there are many projects with similar land origins, all supported with 170 million VND/sao. Now, only supporting 85 million VND is also a disadvantage for the people. In fact, this land is not abandoned but cannot be cultivated due to objective reasons. So in my opinion, the support level should be 4 times the price of agricultural land, otherwise it should be at least 3 times, which is nearly 130 million VND/sao", Mr. Khiem said.
