'Hesitating' about compensating for land clearance on National Highway 1A in Hoang Mai town
(Baonghean.vn) - Quynh Xuan Ward (Hoang Mai Town) is a locality with many areas affected by the project to upgrade and expand National Highway 1A in the years 1994-1996. However, the preparation of compensation records here still faces many difficulties.
Results available but not yet approved
In the process of studying the compensation payment for site clearance of the National Highway 1A expansion projects through Nghe An province, we have recorded many shortcomings and difficulties that localities are trying to solve. In particular, in Hoang Mai town, because the documents related to the site clearance of National Highway 1A from 1994-1996 did not have a specific measurement or diagram of the affected area, it made the preparation of compensation payment documents very difficult.
Mr. Vu Ngoc Khanh - Chief Inspector of Hoang Mai Town People's Committee said: Currently, the Town People's Committee is handling complaints from 118 households and individuals in Quynh Xuan Ward who are eligible for compensation for land under the Project to Upgrade and Expand National Highway 1A. Through reviewing the records, it was found that 11 households have excerpts of the affected area, 103 households and individuals have land recovered within a range of 13.5m but do not have excerpts or specific maps of the affected area.
Mr. Khanh also said that according to current regulations, in order to have a basis for resolving complaints, there must be measurements (that is, there must be affected areas of households and individuals). Therefore, at the end of May 2018, the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town sent a document to the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Provincial Land Use Rights Registration Office to have a solution. By October 3, 2018, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment also instructed the People's Committee of the town to establish a review team and sign the documents.
At the end of 2018, the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town established a working group to inspect, review, and determine the boundaries of land plots as a basis for making additional extracts and measurements, with the participation of officials from the Provincial Land Use Rights Registration Office and the Surveying, Mapping and Remote Sensing Department of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The working group inspected the site, measured and established records and affected areas of each household and individual, and at the same time, organized public posting.
According to the review results of the Working Group, 434/445 land plots of households were identified in the field by painted lines (11/445 plots of households were not present), publicly posted at the cultural houses of the blocks, there were no recommendations, reflections, or complaints from the people about the results of the additional measurement. After determining the boundary, the Working Group established the records and submitted them to the Provincial Land Use Rights Registration Office. And by June 17, 2019, the Provincial Land Use Rights Registration Office had completed the cadastral map (additional measurement) of the affected land plots and submitted the records of the results of the additional measurement to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
However, after consulting with the professional unit, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment received a response from the General Department of Land Management (Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment), which stated: "Because the current status of boundaries, land types, and land users has completely changed compared to the time of site clearance in the period of 1994-1996, the measurement to create a cadastral map (or extract cadastral measurements) according to the land plot boundaries at the time of site clearance to determine the area of each land plot is not based on grounds and does not ensure implementation conditions".
From this answer, after the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town submitted the cadastral map made according to the results of boundary verification, road markers and measurement, it was not approved. Therefore, on February 9, 2021, the Notice of Conclusion No. 84/TB-UBND of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee at the meeting to discuss and resolve existing problems in the settlement of petitions on compensation for site clearance for the Project to Upgrade and Expand National Highway 1A, continued to assign the Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town to establish an interdisciplinary working group, inviting representatives of relevant departments, branches and project investors to participate in order to coordinate in reviewing and collecting documents to respond to citizens and report to the Provincial People's Committee.
After establishing the Inter-sectoral Working Group, on July 12, 2021, the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town issued Official Dispatch No. 1237/UBND-TTr on reporting the results of the review of measurement extracts in Quynh Xuan ward and requesting the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to appraise and approve the results of the previous supplementary measurement extracts (results of the 2018 review) to serve as a basis for resolving complaints. However, the results of the supplementary measurement extracts as proposed by the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town were not appraised and approved.
Need to be dealt with thoroughly
Problems related to the mapping and measuring of affected areas in Quynh Xuan ward have been "delayed" and have not been resolved. On February 10, 2022, in the document directing the implementation of a number of contents related to the settlement of complaints about compensation for site clearance on National Highway 1A, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to preside over and coordinate with the Provincial Inspectorate and the Department of Transport to establish a Working Group to work directly with the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town to determine the affected areas of households in Quynh Xuan ward.
Immediately after that, based on the advice of the Working Group, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment instructed the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town to base on documents on land use rights..., determine the specific area of each affected case to resolve complaints and approve compensation and support plans. However, according to the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town, the contents instructed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment cannot be implemented.
From 2022 to 2023, the Provincial People's Committee has issued many directives to thoroughly handle the case in Quynh Xuan Ward. The local government has even modeled a review of a number of cases using the new method, and at the same time, compared this method with the previous review method. However, the plan to thoroughly resolve the case has not yet been implemented.
Mr. Pham Van Hao - Vice Chairman of Hoang Mai Town People's Committee, said: "Although since 2018, the town has established a Review Team with the participation of all levels and sectors, the plan to approve the additional measurement has not been approved. Meanwhile, if the resolution is based on the local land records as directed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, it will be very difficult to resolve."
According to Mr. Hao, the digitization of map 299 and map 1997 in Quynh Xuan ward has been completed. However, the digitization shows that the previous map 299 was not accurately measured and had many errors, so if the maps were used to calculate the affected area of households, it would not be possible. Meanwhile, the data on the additional measurement and drawing extracted from the 2018 Review Team (this result has not been approved), the Town People's Committee found that the data was relatively accurate, however, legally, this data has not been recognized and approved by the competent authority, so there is no basis for implementation.
The People's Committee of Hoang Mai town also proposed that the Provincial People's Committee agree on a plan to allow the People's Committee of the town to use the results of the 2018 Review Team as a basis for resolving complaints. Because when comparing the data of 24 cases with approved extracts in 2013, the error of the cases only increased or decreased by less than 1m.2/in some cases, the additional extracted data even reduced the area compared to the data approved in 2013. In addition, although the additional measuring extract in 2018 is no longer in the current status, the implementation is handled by technical experts of the Provincial Land Use Registration Office and the staff of the Surveying and Mapping Department under the Department of Natural Resources and Environment based on the project design documents, land records... which are made public in the blocks and are approved by the people, without any complaints or suggestions. Not to mention, if comparing the calculation options, this is the optimal option, with a basis for implementation.
It can be seen that it is extremely necessary to thoroughly resolve the problems related to compensation and site clearance for National Highway 1A in Quynh Xuan Ward. Therefore, the problems, recommendations and proposals need to be thoroughly considered and resolved in order to stabilize the situation in the area, avoiding mass complaints and prolonged frustrations that affect the security and order situation in the locality.
