Bring the Practical Application Center back to its proper use

(Baonghean) -Vinh University’s decision to reclaim the kiosks on Nguyen Van Troi Street is facing opposition from many businesses. However, this is the right policy and is supported by public opinion because the kiosks are reclaimed to make space to perform their functions according to the original planning.

According to the original plan of Vinh University, the row of houses along Nguyen Van Troi Street was originally built to be a Center for Practical Application for students. However, because "we are in the process of preparing the facilities, we will temporarily rent them to some staff and workers in the school to provide services". According to the original contract, the contract period is 3 years from December 1, 2010 to November 30, 2013. In May 2012, because the price of the kiosks was reduced by 15%, the kiosk owners signed a new contract with the school, the period is calculated from May 1, 2012 to November 30, 2013. However, the new contract was not signed for 3 months when on October 9, 2012, Vinh University issued a notice "on the termination of operations and handover of the service kiosk premises on Nguyen Van Troi Street". This information makes business households very worried. Ms. Vu Thi Hai Yen, Thanh Yen shop, said: After signing the contract, we focused our family's capital on investing in business here. In addition, according to Ms. Tran Thi Thu Ha, a business household, complained: The school re-signed the contract with us and added a new clause, with the content "force majeure such as natural disasters, floods, riots, fires, changes in State policies, changes in school policies... that require the kiosk to be recovered, then both parties will not bear any responsibility" and after 3 months of signing, the kiosk was recovered, making us very worried.

Some kiosks are still selling goods despite the notice that they must hand over the premises by February 25, 2013 (photo taken on the morning of March 13).

In response to the reaction of the business households, Mr. Nguyen Huu Sang - Head of the Administration Department, who directly dealt with this issue, said: I sympathize with the business households, but the recovery is a necessary task and this is also being carried out according to the province's directive. Specifically, according to Mr. Sang, when the school previously applied for a construction permit, this land would be used to build a Practical Application Center for students. Due to objective reasons, the center has not been put into operation, so the school temporarily requested to change its purpose. However, this activity did not receive the approval of many people. The interdisciplinary inspection team of the Provincial People's Committee also fined the school for "administrative violations in the field of land".

In response to public reactions, especially after the Directive 05/CT/TU of the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee on strengthening land use management in Vinh City, the Board of Directors of Vinh University held many meetings and decided to reclaim all 46 kiosks on Nguyen Van Troi Street. The kiosk reclamation process was also carried out sequentially with notices in October 2012 and January and February 2013.

To facilitate households in liquidating their inventory, right from Notice No. 2889/TB – BQLDV dated October 9, 2012, the school decided “not to collect rent for business kiosks from the date of announcement to November 30, 2012”. In fact, not only until November 30, 2012, but the school also implemented Official Letter No. 7554 dated October 25, 2013 of the Provincial People's Committee to extend the kiosks' operation until the end of February 2013, during the period from September 2012 to February 2013, the kiosk owners did not have to pay rent. All households have a written commitment to hand over the entire premises to the School by the end of February 2013.

With the above support, up to now, 40 kiosks have been handed over to Vinh University and currently only 6 kiosks (3 business households) are still holding on with the reason of liquidating inventory. Explaining the questions of business households, especially the issue of why Vinh University continued to re-sign contracts with business households even though there was Directive No. 05 of the province, and then added a binding clause, Mr. Sang said: At that time, the school received too many petitions from business households asking the school to reduce booth rent to create conditions for business households. The new contract with the main content of a 15% reduction is also for that reason. Now the households' excuse that "when signing, they did not read the contract clearly and were now "cheated" by the school is unfounded".

Thus, in order to comply with the spirit of the province's direction, it is necessary to reclaim the kiosks used for the wrong purpose of Vinh University. Perhaps, in the process of liquidating the contract, the school should consider the actual investment situation of each business household and base on appropriate agreements to have high consensus. In addition, the commitments signed in the contract on the terms: deposit, interest rate also need to be calculated to ensure, timely, reasonable.

Article and photos: Song Hoang