Clearing kiosks on Cua Lo beach: No delay!

Nghi Thu is the last ward of Cua Lo town to organize a dialogue with business households. Attending the dialogue on September 14 were more than 50 business households; representatives of departments and offices of the Town Party Committee, Town People's Committee and Mr. Doan Tien Dung - Chairman of Cua Lo Town People's Committee. The work of clearing kiosks in the park area east of Binh Minh Street is a "revolution", so the dialogue was carefully organized by the Party Committee and the government of Nghi Thu ward, creating an open atmosphere for business households to express their thoughts. In order, the Secretary and Chairman of the Ward People's Committee chaired the Conference in turn to provide detailed information about the policy and plan to clear kiosks in the park area east of Binh Minh Street of the Town Party Committee, Town People's Committee; the plan of the ward; at the same time, clearly stating that the clearance to change the appearance of Cua Lo beach is a goal that has been nurtured for many years, now is the right time to implement.

Một số hộ kinh doanh khu vực  lâm viên phía Đông đường Bình Minh trình bày ý kiến tại buổi đối thoại ở phường Nghi Thu chiều ngày 14/9/2022.
Some business households in the park area east of Binh Minh Street presented their opinions at a dialogue in Nghi Thu ward on the afternoon of September 14, 2022.

“Clearing the East side of Binh Minh Street with the purpose of organizing landscape architecture space, with suitable investment items to preserve, embellish and promote the value of Cua Lo beach; making Cua Lo one of the beautiful beaches of the North Central region and the whole country, attracting tourists to visit, travel, entertain and work, so that Cua Lo is truly an economic growth pole of Nghe An. This purpose has been nurtured since 2010, up to now, it has gone through many planning consultations, but only now is it suitable to implement…” – Mr. Nguyen Van Hung – Secretary of Nghi Thu Ward Party Committee affirmed.

Hearing about the policy, plan and goals of the clearance, but before the change has impacts on life and work, many business households have worries and concerns. 11 opinions expressed, 10 business households hope Cua Lo beach will be more beautiful, basically agree with the policy, but want to delay the clearance time. Therefore, there have been some opinions that are not really objective about the role of the State in developing Cua Lo, the tax issue during the Covid-19 pandemic, the clearance plan, and the implementation of planning and beach renovation... Specifically, the opinion of the owner of kiosk number 117: "I strongly agree with the policies and guidelines of the town leaders on the project to renew the face of the town. But on the part of the town government, there is no preparation for the next activities. In which direction will we serve tourists and where will we focus, there is no clear overall view, no clear and no commitment to the people, to the kiosks that will suffer when having to accept clearance...".

Therefore, Mr. Cao Anh Hung - Chairman of Nghi Thu Ward People's Committee had to announce information and data on taxes; agreements in the contracts for the delivery of business kiosks in different periods; clarify the clearance plan to call for investment attraction of the town, as well as the renovation work of Cua Lo beach before the planning was approved by the competent authority and investors were selected. "I have also been in business for more than 10 years, so I understand that to get to where it is today, it is thanks to the efforts of the people who built it from the early years. But now the mission is over, and at this point it is necessary to innovate..." - Mr. Cao Anh Hung shared.

Attending the dialogue, Chairman of the People's Committee of Cua Lo town Doan Tien Dung acknowledged and shared the thoughts and feelings of the business households, but he spoke very frankly. He used the changes in Nghi Thu ward to remind the business households about the development of Cua Lo town: "In the past, Nghi Thu did not have asphalt roads, but today people see the developed infrastructure, see how the people's houses are. That is the common development of society, in which there is the contribution of the people, but we must evaluate it objectively". The Chairman of the People's Committee of the town clarified the contents of the plan to clear the East and renovate the West of Binh Minh street, the role of Party committees and authorities at all levels in each work content, but did not forget to ask the business households to be fair, honest and respect the legality. He said: "We must speak to each other honestly, do not speak untruths for personal interests...".

On August 31, 2022, the Provincial People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 819/UBND-TD to the People's Committee of Cua Lo town regarding the handling of citizens' petitions and letters; in which, the People's Committee of Cua Lo town was assigned to respond to the petition of Mr. Dinh Ngoc Son - Owner of kiosk No. 178 and business households of beach kiosks on the East side of Binh Minh Street, Cua Lo town regarding the request to consider extending the business period for another year.

On September 13, 2022, the People's Committee of Cua Lo town issued Document No. 1408/UBND-DT regarding the response to the petition of Mr. Dinh Ngoc Son - Owner of kiosk No. 178 and the business households of the beach kiosk on the East side of Binh Minh Street sent to the Provincial People's Committee as well as the business households with recommendations.

Here, the Town People's Committee informed that in the park area east of Binh Minh Street, there are 116 kiosks whose business contracts have expired since 2015, and have been renewed every year since then; there are 93 kiosks whose business contracts have expired since 2020, and have also been renewed every year in 2021 and 2022. In the Application for contract extension of the business households as well as the 2022 business kiosk rental contract between the People's Committees of Nghi Huong, Nghi Thu and Thu Thuy wards and the business households, it is clearly stated: In Article 2 (contract duration and validity): The contract was signed in 2020 and is valid from April 1, 2022 to September 30, 2022. At the end of the contract, the business kiosk owners must dismantle all items of the kiosk for the kiosks that the householder built himself or hand over the kiosks that the State previously built for the householder to rent to hand over the premises to the Town People's Committee to implement the planning. In Article 4, the responsibilities and powers of Party B (business household owner): At the end of the contract (after September 30, 2022), the householder renting the kiosk must dismantle the entire kiosk (in the case of a kiosk that the family built and installed himself); move all household belongings out of the kiosk (for solid kiosks previously built by the town), clean the premises thoroughly to hand over the premises to the State to implement the planning (according to the notice of the Town People's Committee, of the Ward People's Committee) without requiring any other compensation or support.

Văn bản số 1408/UBND-ĐT ngày 13/9/2022 về việc trả lời đơn thư của UBND thị xã Cửa Lò.
Document No. 1408/UBND-DT dated September 13, 2022 on responding to the petition of the People's Committee of Cua Lo town.

Regarding Plan No. 143/KH-UBND dated August 31, 2022 to clear kiosks in the park area east of Binh Minh Street and organize business activities west of Binh Minh Street, the People's Committee of Cua Lo Town said that the start date for clearance is September 30, 2022 for all kiosks in the park area east of Binh Minh Street. This plan has been organized by the People's Committees of the wards to propagate and post on the media and newspapers for business households to know.

“In parallel with the clearance of kiosks, the Town People's Committee also took steps to relocate agencies, units, organizations, and households with land in the area east of Binh Minh Street to create a clean land fund to attract investment in building the Forest Park east of Binh Minh Street, turning Cua Lo into one of the beautiful beaches of the North Central region, to attract tourists to visit, travel, work, and have fun, contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of the coastal tourist city of Cua Lo and Nghe An province” - Cua Lo Town People's Committee emphasized in Document No. 1408/UBND-DT.

Also in the above Document, the People's Committee of Cua Lo town informed Plan No. 144/KH-UBND dated August 31, 2022 on the renovation of technical infrastructure items west of Binh Minh Street from 2023 to 2025. This plan aims to establish an investment project to renovate and repair technical infrastructure of roads, especially central and key routes, ensuring conditions for people to do business, completing the infrastructure of auction areas as a basis for business households to relocate kiosks to the west of Binh Minh Street. For business households that do not have a location to do business in the coming time, the People's Committee of the town assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to preside over and coordinate with the Branch of the Town Land Registration Office, the People's Committees of the wards to introduce and connect kiosk owners who need to move their business location but do not have a premises to contact to rent land on vacant lots west of Binh Minh Street that have not been built. It is recommended that businesses in need work directly with the People's Committees of the wards for introduction.

Một bản hợp đồng thuê ki ốt khu vực  lâm viên phía Đông đường Bình Minh được lập giữa UBND phường Nghi Thu với hộ kinh doanh hồi tháng 4/2022.
A contract to rent a kiosk in the park area east of Binh Minh Street was made between Nghi Thu Ward People's Committee and a business household in April 2022.

“The Town People's Committee replies so that the beach kiosk business households on the East side of Binh Minh Street, Cua Lo Town, clearly understand the policy and agree to well implement the plan on clearing the kiosks in the park area on the East side of Binh Minh Street and organizing business activities on the West side of Binh Minh Street of the town, self-dismantling, recovering usable items and handing over the premises to the town within the period from September 30, 2022 to October 30, 2022” – Cua Lo Town People's Committee concluded Document No. 1408/UBND-DT.

Following the dialogue in Nghi Thu ward, we requested access to related records and documents, especially the contracts for renting business kiosks for different periods; we found that the contracts clearly stated the kiosk rental period and the responsibilities of the relevant parties, as stated by the People's Committee of Cua Lo town in Document No. 1408/UBND-DT.

Cua Lo sea and beach are natural masterpieces bestowed upon the whole society, not the private property of more than 56,000 Cua Lo residents, and certainly not the private property of 209 business households. It is unacceptable for Cua Lo sea and beach to continue to lag behind and be inferior to most major beaches in the country. Therefore, business households and collectives with projects in the park area east of Binh Minh Street must all be responsible and promptly implement the clearance policy to quickly make changes.

Biển Cửa Lò và hệ thống công trình, ki ốt trên khu vực  lâm viên phía Đông đường Bình Minh hiện nay.
Cua Lo beach and the system of works and kiosks in the park area east of Binh Minh street today.

The responsibility for carrying out the clearance, and the following tasks to change the appearance of Cua Lo beach, is weighing heavily on the Party Committee, the government and political organizations of Cua Lo town. Notice No. 205 dated August 28, 2022 of the Standing Committee of the Cua Lo Town Party Committee clearly stated: “Determining the issue of clearing kiosks in the park area east of Binh Minh Street is an important task, it is necessary to focus on directing the implementation "at lightning speed", clearing synchronously, simultaneously, quickly, without exceptions (to be completed in October 2022); the issue of renovating technical infrastructure items west of Binh Minh Street from 2023 to 2025 associated with organizing business activities west of Binh Minh Street is a "vital" and long-term issue, eliminating seasonality, aiming for 4-season tourism. From there, develop a roadmap for implementing the contents and tasks each year appropriately and effectively".

Therefore, from the recommendations of business households, the authorities of Cua Lo town, Thu Thuy, Nghi Huong, Nghi Thu wards and related units need to be more responsible when carrying out the tasks set out in Plan No. 143/KH-UBND dated August 31, 2022 on the clearance of kiosks in the park area east of Binh Minh Street and organizing business activities west of Binh Minh Street; Plan No. 144/KH-UBND dated August 31, 2022 on the renovation of technical infrastructure items west of Binh Minh Street from 2023 to 2025. These tasks must be carried out well, so as not to disappoint society's expectations for innovation; so that Cua Lo will soon become one of the beautiful beaches of the North Central region, attracting tourists to visit, travel, entertain, work, contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of the coastal tourist city of Cua Lo and Nghe An province./.

Video: Thanh Cuong