Settlement project "suspended"

(Baonghean)- Since 2008, the province has had 10 projects on settlement for ethnic minorities implemented according to Decision 33/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister. Up to now, only 1 project has been completed, but still owes money; the rest are in a state of suspension, unfinished and shelved...

Project approved 6 years but people do not know

In Anh Son district, the Thung Chanh settlement project was approved by the Provincial People's Committee in 2009. The project aims to stabilize the lives of 54 ethnic minority households in Khe Trang Ha and Khe Trang Thuong villages (Tho Son commune) who live a nomadic life in the area. However, in Tho Son commune, it is surprising that the project was approved 6 years ago but no one knows where the Thung Chanh settlement village is actually located...

The road to the Thung Chanh settlement project is narrow and crowded with bushes.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thang - Vice Chairman of the Fatherland Front of Tho Son commune was assigned to take us to the area where the Thung Chanh resettlement project was being implemented. According to the design, the roadbed was 3.5m wide, the road surface was 2.5m wide, but due to being covered by grass and bushes, the current situation is only nearly 2m wide; the surface of many sections is rocky, sandy; one section has even been eroded, and bushes are growing wildly. Along the entire route, there were 5 spillways built and 2 of them collapsed and were swept away by floodwaters. Halfway along the route, we saw a few small huts of some people in Tho Son commune, most of whom are Thai ethnic people in Khe Trang Ha and Khe Trang Thuong villages. Mr. Thang said: "Due to lack of land for production, although the resettlement area has not been planned, they have built camps in the Thung Chanh area" - Mr. Thang said.

At the camp of Mr. Loc Van Cong's family (residing in Khe Trang Ha hamlet), he said he was one of 54 households registered for permanent settlement, but "after waiting for 6 years, the project has not been implemented, so we have to build a camp for production convenience". Mr. Loc Van Hai - Head of Khe Trang Ha hamlet said: "Of the 54 registered households, now only nearly 30 households want the project to continue".

The Party Secretary of Tho Son commune talked with reporters about the Thung Chanh settlement project.

Meeting with Party Secretary La Van Hoat, asked about the planning and total investment of the Thung Chanh resettlement project. He said that the commune only knew some information about the road and did not agree because the design was "too unreasonable"; as for the planning area, the commune did not know the total estimated budget. Asked the district but did not get an answer...

Not just Thung Chanh.

In 2014, the Provincial People's Council supervised two projects implemented under Decision 33/QD-TTg in Anh Son and Quy Hop. The Thung Chanh project in Anh Son is as mentioned above. With the Pieng Luong project in Quy Hop district, the Provincial People's Committee approved in 2009 to settle 50 ethnic households in Chau Thanh commune. The project had a total investment of nearly 18.7 billion VND and by 2013, it had been allocated more than 7 billion VND from the Central budget; 1 billion VND from the provincial budget. With the above capital, the People's Committee of Quy Hop district has built the following items: connecting road to the resettlement village, low-voltage power station, internal road and leveled the ground in phase 1 of about 1.8 hectares, marking plots for 30 volunteer households who came first; the self-flowing water pipeline has also been implemented but is still unfinished, currently in a state of damage and loss. After supervision, the Provincial People's Council requested the Central Government and the Provincial People's Committee to continue to pay attention to creating favorable conditions for capital so that the project can continue to be implemented and completed in 2015. But up to now, capital has not been allocated.

This is a stream but also a route for people to enter the Ca Moong resettlement area.

According to the latest report of the Provincial Ethnic Committee, the province has 12 concentrated settlement projects and 33 mixed settlement sites according to Decision No. 1342/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister. Implementing Decision 33/QD-TTg, reviewing the actual conditions of the locality, the Provincial People's Committee decided to invest in 10/12 projects approved by the Prime Minister with a total investment of 171,880 billion VND (Central capital accounts for more than 60 million VND, local counterpart capital and combined other capital sources 111.8 million VND).

According to regulations, the 3km road to Ca Moong resettlement area must be built to Class A standards, with the road surface constructed with hard materials. However, this road has just been leveled, and after just a light rain, it has become muddy and slippery.

By the end of 2014, the central capital allocation had been completed; the provincial capital reached over 24 billion VND. Of the 10 projects, only the project in Pung village, Luu Kien commune (Tuong Duong) was completed, but lacked capital to repay debts; 4 projects had basically built essential infrastructure works, including the project in Bac Ly commune (Ky Son), the project in Binh Chuan commune (Con Cuong), the project in Tam Hop commune (Tuong Duong), the project in Nam Nhong commune (Que Phong) and households had moved to resettle; 1 project in Dooc May commune (Ky Son) where people had moved but lacked essential infrastructure works to serve life and production; 4 projects in Chau Thanh commune (Quy Hop), Tho Son (Anh Son), Keng Du (Ky Son), Chau Khe (Con Cuong) did not have enough infrastructure conditions to resettle people. Therefore, after 7 years of implementation, only 245 households have been able to move to new residences; 252 households have not been able to move to settled villages.

Not paying enough attention!

Thus, all 10 projects are still unfinished. The amount of construction that needs to be done is huge, while the capital is seriously lacking, so the goal of completing the resettlement and settlement by 2015 according to the approved plan is not achieved. From here, many consequences have resulted in the material and spiritual life of the people not being improved, and the conditions for production development are not truly sustainable.

The current status of the projects, the Provincial Ethnic Committee also pointed out some limitations and shortcomings. That is, the initial survey work of localities to establish projects was not close to the actual difficult conditions, so when implemented, many shortcomings were revealed; the impact of natural disasters affected the construction and maintenance of the quality of works and projects; the projects were prolonged, with large annual price fluctuations but had not been adjusted or supplemented in a timely manner; the infrastructure was still weak, the level of support for the community and directly for households was too low, the support period was not long, while people's lives were still low, so the ability to mobilize other legal capital was not possible...

Regarding the question of who is responsible for the shortcomings in implementing projects under Decision 33/QD-TTg? According to Mr. Sam Van Buu - Head of Propaganda and Locality Department (Provincial Ethnic Committee): "The fundamental cause is still capital difficulties. As for responsibility, first of all, it must be the agencies that issued the decision to implement the project...". Mr. Sam Van Buu also said that because capital is urgent, the Provincial Ethnic Committee has proposed that the Provincial People's Committee should provide immediate support for projects that are under construction but are highly feasible, have relocated people to resettle; have basically built essential infrastructure works...; in addition, it is proposed that the Government extend the implementation period of the policy under Decision 33/QD-TTg until 2020. And, it is proposed that the Provincial People's Committee pay attention to allocating capital, focusing on directing strongly to resolve difficulties and problems in the process of project implementation.

The spillway at Thung Chanh project (Anh Son) collapsed and was swept away by floodwaters.

Currently, many localities are looking forward to being provided with funding to complete the resettlement project. For example, in Anh Son, they are directing a review of the project's current status, analyzing existing problems and shortcomings in the project construction process, and constructing some items in Thung Chanh to consider and agree on the policy of whether to continue implementing the project or not; and if continuing to implement, what funding will be needed to submit to higher levels for consideration of funding.

However, it is necessary to recognize that the settlement projects under Decision 33/QD-TTg have not received due attention even though the set goals are very good and urgent. This can be seen right from the arrangement of investment capital. Regarding the central government's capital, although it is not close to the actual situation, it has been provided in full. Meanwhile, over many years, the provincial capital has only provided about 24/111.8 billion VND. Our province still has many difficulties, however, only providing these projects with an average of about 4 billion VND/year is clearly unbalanced. Besides, through research, there have been rumors about the management; selection of contractors to construct these projects. Typically, with the Thung Chanh project, the way the project was established, then designed, and constructed is really worth considering and learning from...

Nhat Lan - Pham Bang