Nearly 400 households along Khe Bo hydroelectric reservoir are waiting for their red book

Problems with measurement costs

For many years, hundreds of households have lived along T.Khe Bo power plant(Tuong Duong district), regularly petitioned to have their land management records soon revised to be granted a Certificate of Land Use Rights. These are households whose land area was partially flooded after this hydropower plant stored water since 2013.

“In almost every voter meeting, people have opinions on this issue. We have made many recommendations in meetings but so far they have not been implemented,” said Ms. Lo Thi Tra My - Chairwoman of Xa Luong Commune People's Committee.

According to the reporter's investigation, after Khe Bo Hydropower Plant stored water, in addition to the households that had to be relocated to the resettlement area due to total flooding, there were 398 plots of land belonging to 398 households that were partially affected and did not have to be relocated. Of these, Xa Luong commune had 130 households, Thach Giam town had 183 households, Tam Thai commune had 63 households and Yen Thang commune had 22 households.

After many petitions from the people, in November 2020, the investor signed a contract with a consulting company to organize the implementation. However, the documents prepared by this consulting unit were not approved by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment due to the water storage process and the lake bed contour having changes that needed to be adjusted. Therefore, the implementation of the issuance of Land Use Right Certificates to households that the consulting unit carried out did not meet the requirements.

According to the leader of the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district, to resolve this issue, on May 8, 2024, the investor had a meeting with the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district, the Nghe An Provincial Land Registration Office, and the District Land Registration Office Branch. Accordingly, the investor requested the District Land Registration Office Branch to help with the pilot implementation of granting Land Use Right Certificates to 8 households in Xieng Huong village, Xa Luong commune. To date, the pilot has been completed. For the remaining households, the investor has sent a document to the Nghe An Provincial Land Registration Office requesting assistance in developing a plan for implementation.

However, in a recent report, Mr. Nguyen Huu Hien - Vice Chairman of Tuong Duong District People's Committee said that according to the regulations of the Provincial People's Committee, the cost of supporting the adjustment of land management records is not more than 300,000 VND/household according to the method of payment by the investor to the competent land management agency. The investor also agreed to carry out all the work of adjusting land management records for households and approved the amount of 882 million VND.

But according to the plan established by the Land Registration Office, to complete the issuance of red books to households, the estimated implementation value is 1.2 billion VND (equivalent to about 2.4 million VND/household), much higher than the regulations set by the Provincial People's Committee. "Therefore, the decision to implement or not to implement is beyond the authority of the investor as well as the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district," said Mr. Hien.

Continue to propose compensation for land on flooded land

Also related to the rights of people affected by hydropower projects, Mr. Nguyen Phung Hung - Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Tuong Duong district said that recently the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has issued a written response on resolving the problem of compensation and support for land above the flood level for the Ban Ve Hydropower Project. Accordingly, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development does not agree to compensate for land outside the project (land above the flood level).

Previously, after Tuong Duong district had a written proposal, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee had many times sent documents requesting ministries and branches to allow them to develop a plan to implement compensation and support for land on flooded areas.

“Although the land above the flood level is outside the project, households with land must relocate and resettle according to the project's policy. They cannot stay or return to produce on this land. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out land recovery, compensation or have some policies to support the people,” said Mr. Nguyen Phung Hung, adding that in the coming time, the locality will continue to review and report to competent authorities for opinions on handling the residential land, agricultural land and forestry land above the flood level, to ensure the legitimate rights of the people, and at the same time serve as a basis for implementing compensation for the difference in the place of departure and destination such as households below the flood level.

Early compensation for departure and arrival differences

Nearly 20 years ago, to get land for the construction of Ban Ve Hydropower Plant, 4 communes of Tuong Duong district were wiped out, 2,910 indigenous households were subject to relocation. Of these, most of them were allocated land by the government, establishing 2 new communes in Thanh Chuong district, Ngoc Lam and Thanh Son, to relocate households here. According to the reporter's investigation, 236 households later wished to migrate freely, so they were given compensation and support policies on land. More than 2,000 households moved to resettlement areas in Ngoc Lam and Thanh Son have not yet been compensated for the difference in land value between the departure and destination areas.

In 2018, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district completed the review of data on land at the departure location in the reservoir area (including land above the flood level and land below the flood level) and publicly asked for people's opinions at the resettlement area of ​​Thanh Chuong district. However, there was still no compensation plan because at that time, the resettlement areas in Thanh Chuong district did not have data on land at the destination location because the issuance of Certificates to people had not been completed, so there was no data to calculate the difference in land value between the departure location and the destination location.

According to the leader of the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district, the responsibility belongs to the hydropower investor and the People's Committee of Thanh Chuong district because they have not completed the legal documents on land in resettlement areas to offset the difference in land value at the departure and destination places according to the provisions of law.

According to the leaders of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee, because the work of reviewing and balancing the entire agricultural land area that was previously divided among households has not been completed, and because after the review, the actual land area that households are using is incorrect, much different from the previous land division records, the work of dividing land to serve the declaration and issuance of Land Use Right Certificates has not been carried out.

"After having data on land in resettlement areas of Thanh Chuong district, Tuong Duong district People's Committee will coordinate with Thanh Chuong district and investors to implement", said Mr. Nguyen Huu Hien - Vice Chairman of Tuong Duong district People's Committee.