Resettlement area in Thanh Chuong 'shelved' for 14 years

Fishermen waiting for the day to go ashore

From the Ho Chi Minh trail, follow the winding forest road to reach Khe Mu resettlement area in Thanh Thuy commune, Thanh Chuong district. Reporters' records show that the infrastructure including the asphalt road leading from Ho Chi Minh trail to the resettlement area (about 5 km) was completed many years ago, but has now degraded, with many sections of asphalt peeling off.

The items in the resettlement area are broken, the two cultural houses of the resettlement area have been built but are now degraded, the steps are cracked, becoming a place for local people to raise bees and graze cattle. Around the vacant land of the resettlement area, trees are growing wildly, many areas have been encroached upon by people to plant acacia.

Mr. Tran Van Tien - a fisherman in Minh Duc hamlet, Vo Liet commune shared: "Our family is subject to resettlement in Khe Mu, we have registered to enter the resettlement area for a long time but until now there has been no movement. In the past years, we have had to live a drifting life fishing on the river during the rainy and flood season."

Through investigation, it was found that some households have built houses on the Lam River bank or bought land elsewhere. According to the people here, although they know that the construction is illegal, because they have waited too long to go to the resettlement area, they still have to build temporary houses on the bank to shelter from the sun and rain.

Resettlement area "covered"

On April 21, 2009, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 1479 on permitting the establishment of the project: "Building model resettlement areas for fishing households on Lam River and particularly difficult areas in Thanh Chuong district".

This project is invested by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, with a capital of 74 billion VND. After the second planning adjustment, the project investment capital was increased to more than 84 billion VND (from the central budget and counterpart capital of Nghe An province). Dai Cat Thanh Joint Stock Company (headquartered in Hanoi) is the winning bidder for the project.

It is expected that after the project is completed, 165 fishing households on Lam River in Thanh Chuong district will be relocated to two resettlement areas: Khe Mu (Thanh Thuy commune) and Trieu Duong (Thanh Lam commune).

Of which, the largest number of resettled people are in Van Tai hamlet, Vo Liet commune (now called Minh Duc hamlet), Giang Thuy hamlet (Thanh Giang commune), the rest are scattered in Phong Thinh, Thanh Ha, Thanh Yen communes, block 6, Dung town...

On May 7, 2010, the project of resettlement area for fishing villages in Khe Mu, Thanh Thuy commune and Trieu Duong, Thanh Lam commune, Thanh Chuong district was started. To date, Trieu Duong resettlement area has been completed and put into use since 2015, providing accommodation for 45 households. Meanwhile, Khe Mu resettlement area, which is expected to accommodate 120 households living scattered along the river in Vo Liet, Thanh Chi, Phong Thinh communes, Thanh Chuong town, is still inactive.

Need a solution arearedetermineKhe Mu resident

Discussing the need for a solution to the Khe Mu resettlement area, Mr. Le Van Luong - Head of Nghe An Rural Development Department, said that Khe Mu resettlement area project has completed infrastructure items according to approved design and has been approved by departments and branches for acceptance to hand over to the locality from 2023.

Mr. Le Dinh Thanh - Vice Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee said: For Khe Mu resettlement area, although the investor has handed over, there are still many difficulties, including no specific plan to hand over residential land and production land to resettled people, so people cannot reach their place of residence.

Currently, to allocate land to resettled households, the following steps must be taken: Adjusting planning and land use plans, and establishing land use plans for each resettled household to determine how much residential land and production land area they can use.

Thanh Chuong district is currently actively directing relevant departments and consulting units to conduct field surveys and compare with records to develop a land use plan to submit to competent authorities for approval.

It is expected that by 2025, the District People's Committee will complete the land use plan and submit it to the competent authority for approval and handover to the resettled people of Khe Mu.

Up to now, some construction works in Khe Mu resettlement area have been invested and built and handed over to Thanh Thuy Commune People's Committee for management. However, because the project was approved in 2009, some items need to be supplemented to comply with current regulations and according to the opinions of provincial departments, branches, district People's Committee and Thanh Thuy Commune People's Committee.

Specifically, the kindergarten and community cultural house do not have gates and fences, which will affect the operation process. Therefore, Thanh Chuong district requested the investor to add items such as gates, fences, technical infrastructure (entrance, yard, water drainage ditches, etc.) as well as fire protection systems, ladders and roof covers.

It is known that due to the long time of project implementation, there has been a change in the number of households in need of resettlement. Specifically, in the past, many households that were to be relocated to the resettlement area have relocated on their own or bought land to build houses elsewhere, no longer having the need to go to Khe Mu resettlement area.

According to Thanh Chuong district's review, up to now, 46/120 households have relocated on-site or bought land to build houses. Therefore, when completing land procedures and conducting lot division, the district will continue to survey the final needs of the resettled people to see how many households remain.