The main road project in Vinh city is at a standstill because of 2 plots of land.
(Baonghean) - Although the payment has been finalized, the Western service road section of the project to upgrade and expand National Highway 1A, Quan Banh - Quan Hanh section, Vinh City People's Committee has not been able to clear the land of 2 households. Therefore, the road section through here is constricted, like a bottleneck, causing traffic jams and losing the urban beauty.
congestion, frustration
The Western service road of Vinh City is a part of the project to upgrade and expand National Highway 1A from Quan Banh (Vinh City) to Quan Hanh (Nghi Loc District), running parallel to the North-South railway, cutting the road into the center of Nghi Kim commune, Vinh City and intersecting with the service road under Nghi Kim overpass (road for passenger cars going to the northern provinces).
The purpose of building the route is to contribute to reducing traffic accidents on railways and roads, reducing traffic pressure in front of Bac Vinh Bus Station. At the same time, it will facilitate trade and travel from Cua Lo town, Vinh city and surrounding areas to Uncle Ho's hometown, Thanh Thuy border gate and the western districts of the province.
 |
| The western service road was built with the aim of reducing traffic accidents on railways and roads, and reducing traffic pressure in front of Bac Vinh Bus Station. However, due to the lack of land acquisition, it has caused traffic congestion. A 70m long section of road has been congested, like a bottleneck, causing traffic congestion. Photo: Pham Bang |
According to the design, the road meets the standard of level III plains. The roadbed is 12m wide, of which the width for motor vehicles is 7m, the roadway for non-motorized vehicles is 3.5m and the roadside is 1.5m wide, in addition, there is a drainage system running parallel. The designed speed for this route is 80km/h.
However, when you are on this route, you will see that the project's purpose has not been fully achieved. A 70m stretch of road is congested, the road surface is only wide enough for 2 cars to pass each other. The intersection with the road to the center of Nghi Kim commune has long been a source of frustration for many people who often pass by here. Here, the road surface is only about 3m wide, the corner is narrow, so during rush hours, a large volume of vehicles pouring here causes congestion.
 |
| Traffic is difficult at the intersection between the western service road and the road to the center of Nghi Kim commune. Photo: Pham Bang |
Mr. Nguyen Van Khiem - Chairman of Nghi Kim Commune People's Committee said that almost every day from 6:30 to 8:00 in the morning and from 17 to 18:00 in the afternoon, traffic jams occur at this intersection. Because this road is the place where thousands of students, workers, and civil servants go to and from. Besides, this is also the route for passenger cars to run under the overpass to go to the northern provinces, so the traffic density here is quite dense.
“People have complained a lot, the commune has also given opinions in meetings, in writing to all levels requesting to continue implementing the project to expand this road section. But for many years there have been no results.”
The reason for the above situation is that during the project implementation, Vinh City People's Committee was unable to complete the site clearance for two households whose land area is located at the beginning of the road to the commune center, namely Ms. Dang Thi Nga and Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Khiem - Chairman of Nghi Kim Commune People's Committee, during the project implementation, Ms. Dang Thi Nga's family had 50.3 m2/426.0 m2 confiscated. The origin of Ms. Nga's land was agricultural land, allocated under Decree 64 (1993), and was allocated land by Nghi Kim Commune People's Committee without authority. In 2008, Ms. Nga's family built a house on that land but had not fulfilled their financial obligations regarding the land and had not been granted a land use right certificate.
The second case is the household of Ms. Bui Thi Thanh, the area recovered by the project is 55.9 m²/158.0 m². The origin of Ms. Thanh's land was granted by the People's Committee of Nghi Kim commune without authority; the land use right certificate has not been granted. Ms. Thanh built a house and other works on the land that was planned to open a road and has not been granted a construction permit by the competent authority.
 |
| The land plot of Ms. Dang Thi Nga's family was not recovered, which affected the site clearance and design of the project. Photo: Pham Bang |
Responding to this issue, Mr. Nguyen Huu An - Deputy Director of the Department of Transport said that during the implementation process, the Department of Transport actively coordinated with the Vinh City People's Committee and Nghi Kim Commune People's Committee to handle the remaining 70m due to land clearance problems through two households, Dang Thi Nga and Bui Thi Thanh. At the same time, the Department of Transport sent many documents requesting the Vinh City People's Committee to speed up the progress of site clearance for the above-mentioned section, but there was still no land available for construction expansion according to the approved design documents.
Implementing the direction of the Ministry of Transport, the Department of Transport has sent a document to the Vinh City People's Committee and reported to the Provincial People's Committee on the temporary suspension of construction to hand over and finalize the project. The Department of Transport's Traffic Project Management Board has worked and agreed in a record with the Vinh City People's Committee to stop the project to complete acceptance, hand over and finalize the project. On June 26, 2017, the Department of Transport organized the handover to the Vinh City People's Committee to receive management and operation of the western access road.
“Up to now, the project has completed the capital settlement and the capital allocation account has been closed. Therefore, the site clearance for the two households mentioned above and the investment in completing the construction of the remaining section of the route are the responsibility of Vinh City People's Committee.”
Responsibility belongs to Vinh City
The responsibility belongs to Vinh City People's Committee not only in the issue of receiving, managing and exploiting the western service road project, but also because, in the process of implementing the site clearance work to implement the project, the regulations on compensation, support and resettlement when the state reclaims land were not properly applied.
For example, in the case of Ms. Dang Thi Nga's family, with an area of 50.3 square meters recovered, according to Decision No. 10886 dated October 2, 2015 on approving details of compensation and support for land acquisition and clearance of Vinh City People's Committee, her family was compensated 85,000 VND/square meter of land. The total amount her family received was more than 30 million VND (of which 4,276 million VND was for land; 25,632 million VND was for assets on land).
Ms. Nga did not agree and filed a complaint. On January 11, 2016, Vinh City People's Committee issued Decision 131/QD-UBND to adjust and approve the additional compensation plan for Ms. Nga's family at 602,500 VND/m2 and compensation for land for Ms. Nga's family at 30,306 million VND (after deducting the land use fee payable according to regulations). Ms. Nga did not agree, so she decided to sue Vinh City People's Committee.
 |
| Because the land has not been recovered and site clearance has not been completed, the canal system has not been invested in. Photo: Pham Bang |
In Judgment No. 13/2018 of Nghe An Provincial People's Court, it was stated that at the time Vinh City People's Committee issued Decision No. 131/QD-UBND dated January 11, 2016, Decision No. 58/2015/QD-UBND dated October 13, 2015 of the Provincial People's Committee on compensation, support and resettlement when the State reclaims land in Nghe An province had taken effect.
In Clause 2, Article 27, Decision No. 58 stipulates: Individual households whose agricultural land in the same residential plot is recovered but is not recognized as residential land, in addition to compensation according to the value of agricultural land, will also be supported with 50% of the difference in land use fee calculated according to the specific residential land price and the land use fee according to the specific agricultural land price at the time of recovery.
Therefore, the issuance of Decision No. 131 by the Vinh City People's Committee to adjust the land compensation plan but not considering supporting the difference between the land use fee for residential land and agricultural land in the same residential land plot for Ms. Dang Thi Nga's family does not ensure the family's rights. This is the reason why the land acquisition process for Ms. Nga's family is prolonged, affecting the progress of the project.
 |
| Many items of the project are still unfinished and messy, causing loss of urban beauty. Photo: Pham Bang |
The Provincial People's Court requested the Vinh City People's Committee to partially cancel Decision No. 131 on approving the compensation and support plan to implement the project for Ms. Nga's family. On July 31, 2019, the Vinh City People's Committee issued a decision to partially cancel the content of the Decision on land recovery and approval of the compensation and support plan to implement the project.
Accordingly, Vinh City People's Committee canceled the content of recovering 50.3m2 of land (plot No. 1450, map No. 5) from Mr. Nguyen Van Lai and Ms. Dang Thi Nga's household. Canceled part of the content of approving the detailed compensation plan, site clearance for project implementation, canceled the content of approving more than 30 million VND for Mr. Nguyen Van Lai and Ms. Dang Thi Nga in Decision No. 10886/QD-UBND dated October 2, 2016 of Vinh City People's Committee. And since then, Ms. Nga's family's land has remained intact, creating ugliness and loss of urban beauty.
It is known that since the beginning of 2019, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Land Fund Development Center of Vinh City have been preparing and approving a compensation and site clearance plan related to the above two plots of land to implement the traffic intersection project into the center of Nghi Kim commune and the western service road. However, it is not known when the project will have capital to implement.
