Difficulty in paying compensation for land affected by the upgrading and expansion of National Highway 1A in Nghi Lien Commune (Vinh City)

The area claimed for compensation no longer exists in reality.

In Vinh City, there are currently problems related to compensation and support payments for people whenHighway 1A clearancemainly located in Nghi Lien commune, of which 68 households have filed complaints requesting benefits. According to regulations, the complaints of 68 households have expired. However, to ensure the rights of the people, and the direction of the province, since 2018, Vinh City People's Committee has established a working group to inspect and review the settlement of the petitions of 68 households in Nghi Lien commune. However, the records and documents collected by the working group are not sufficient to conclude whether the petitions of the households have sufficient grounds for settlement or not.

Mr. Nguyen Trong Thang - Specialist of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Vinh City People's Committee said: In 2018, Vinh City People's Committee processed and responded to clarify the petitions of 68 citizens, with the content: "The petitions of the citizens have no basis for consideration and resolution".

However, during the dialogue, the people requested to base on the minutes of compensation and support for assets on land and the current site plan of clearance and compensation for assets on land in the period of 1994-1995 to calculate the land area of ​​households affected when the State reclaimed land to implement the PMU1 project in 1994-1995 and to establish a plan for compensation, support, and land clearance for households for this area. The households pledged not to continue to submit complaints.

Later, if the City People's Committee collects complete records, documents and legal basis to accurately calculate the affected land area of ​​the households, it is proposed to continue to develop a compensation plan and provide additional support for the remaining area that has not been compensated or supported by those households.

Regarding the search for records, documents, land use rights papers of the people in the past and the records of compensation and site clearance for the PMU1 project in 1994-1995, according to Mr. Thang, in 2014, the extraction and additional measurement of the cadastral map for compensation and site clearance for the project "Upgrading and expanding National Highway 1A" was carried out by the Information Technology Center - Department of Natural Resources and Environment, approved by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, so the determination, marking of boundaries, and land boundaries for measurement were not carried out by the Vinh City People's Committee. On the other hand, at the time of 2014, the land that the households requested for additional compensation, the current status of the households was no longer in use (the households had built back the fence, no longer in use since 1994 - 1995).

To resolve the people's petition, the Vinh City People's Committee also issued documents and sent officials directly to the State Treasury of Nghe An Province, the Department of Transport, the Road Management Department II, Joint Stock Company 497 and the Nghi Loc District People's Committee to request copies of documents on the people's previous land use rights papers and compensation records, and National Highway 1A site clearance when implementing the PMU1 Project (1994-1995). As a result, the records provided by the above units were incomplete, and the records provided did not show the land area that the households had cleared in 1994-1995 and the current status of the road was asphalt.

In addition, using the 1991-1992 survey maps, the 2002 and 2014 cadastral maps, and the extract and additional measurement of the 2014 project cadastral map to determine the area of ​​land affected by the upgrade of National Highway 1A also becomes "impossible", because the 1991-1992 survey map of Nghi Lien commune does not have coordinates and does not have an accompanying atlas.

On the other hand, after 1994-1995, households built back fences when implementing the PMU1 Project, so the cadastral maps measured in 2002, 2014 and the extract and additional measurements of the cadastral map when implementing the National Highway 1A upgrading and expansion project in 2014 no longer showed the area that households were requesting additional compensation for.

Propose additional support options

According to our research, the project to upgrade and expand National Highway 1A through Nghe An was previously invested by the Ministry of Transport, divided into 2 phases: Phase 1 was implemented from 1994-1998 and Phase 2 was implemented from 2013-2015. In fact, in phase 1, according to the document of the Ministry of Transport and the regulations of the province, the area cleared from the corridor only compensated for assets, not for land. In 2013, when implementing phase 2, affected households requested compensation for the land of the project phase 1 that had not been implemented, however, at that time, the people's petitions had not been resolved. Therefore, when phase 2 of the project was completed, more than 3,000 households filed complaints, even many lawsuits in court related to this compensation issue.

After the central ministries and branches affirmed that the cleared area in phase 1 must be compensated and supported according to current regulations (the previous phase did not provide this support, which did not ensure the rights of the people)... At the same time, the Government approved the amount of 1,275 billion VND to pay affected households that had not yet been compensated, the authorities and local governments were forced to "revisit" the records from 1994-1995 as a basis for compensation and support.

Returning to the story in Vinh city, due to difficulties in finding records and documents proving the specific land area affected by the people when implementing the National Highway 1A expansion project in 1994-1995, the Vinh City People's Committee directed the City Land Fund Development Center to establish a plan to determine the value for support without establishing a compensation plan for households.

According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Duc - Chairman of Nghi Lien Commune People's Committee, at the time of expanding National Highway 1A in 1994-1995, no land recovery decision was issued, no cadastral map was made to determine the area of ​​each household, and cadastral records over the storage periods were incomplete. Currently, only 24 households still have diagrams and minutes of inspection of the current status when implementing the PMU1 Project in 1994-1995. On January 9, 2024, the Commune People's Committee held a meeting to review the origin and land use process for the area with assets and constructions occupying the land in the list of these 24 households and submitted it to the City People's Committee for consideration.

Mr. Duc also said that the local government had invited former leaders of the Commune People's Committee and those who participated in the land clearance process in the period of 1994-1995 to work and record their opinions. Based on the opinions of the participants, on January 10, 2024, Nghi Lien Commune People's Committee publicly disclosed the origin and land use process of households (publicly for 15 days).

Based on the origin and area submitted by Nghi Lien Commune People's Committee and the directive documents of the Provincial People's Committee and Vinh City People's Committee, the City Land Fund Development Center has developed a plan to provide additional support with an amount of more than 16 billion VND, including late payment fees. However, this plan has not yet been approved by competent departments and agencies. Therefore, the "blockages" related to the payment of compensation and support from the 1,275 billion VND package approved by the Government have not changed so far.