Checking and handling compensation for land clearance on National Highway 1A in Cau Giat town (Quynh Luu)

Many people in Cau Giat town complained

The project to upgrade and expand National Highway 1A through Quynh Luu district has a total length of 12.25 km, passing through 6 communes and 1 town. Of which, the section passing through Quynh Hong, Quynh Lam, Quynh Giang communes and Cau Giat town uses the State budget. The section passing through Quynh Van, Quynh Thach, and Quynh Hau communes uses BOT capital.

According to the summary report, along the entire route, there are 1,683 land plots affected by the project, of which: 916 land plots are in the section using BOT budget; 767 land plots are in the section using State budget.

Recently, implementing the direction of the Provincial People's Committee as well as related departments and branches on handling citizens' complaints related to the National Highway 1A upgrading and expansion project, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district has established 4 inspection teams to review all households in the area along National Highway 1A. After reviewing, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district has issued many decisions approving compensation plans and making payments to people in Quynh Hong, Quynh Hau and Quynh Van communes. In Cau Giat town alone, due to many problems, the payment is still difficult.

In particular, in Cau Giat town area, 7 households with houses along National Highway 1A filed a complaint, requesting compensation and support for the land area within 13.5m according to the Land Clearance Measurement Map (GPMB) of the project in 2014. The households said that the area within 13.5m was legal residential land and they had used it continuously before December 21, 1982 (the time of promulgation of Decree 203-HDBT on promulgating the Road Protection Regulations). When implementing the PMU1 project in 1994-1996, the State only compensated people for their property and requested clearance but there was no decision to reclaim the land and no compensation for the land had been made.

By 2014, when the State implemented the National Highway 1A expansion and upgrading project, it measured, extracted and cleared this area. The households requested compensation for the affected area according to the Extracted Map and additional measurement of the Cadastral Map of the land in 2014 to implement the National Highway 1A expansion and upgrading project.

Immediately after the people submitted their petition, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district conducted an inspection, review, and issued the review conclusions and the decision to resolve the initial complaint, concluding that the households' complaints were wrong.

Review

Although the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district issued a decision to resolve the initial complaint, the 7 households did not agree and filed a complaint with the Provincial People's Committee. Upon receiving the petition from the households, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Provincial Inspectorate to establish an interdisciplinary working group to resolve the complaints of the 7 households.

On January 23, 2025, the Provincial Inspectorate reported the results of verifying the complaints of 7 households in Cau Giat town and concluded that the complaints of these 7 households were correct.

At the same time, it is recommended that the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee assign the Chairman of the Quynh Luu District People's Committee to cancel the decisions to resolve the initial complaints of the households because there is not enough basis according to the provisions of law. At the same time, conduct inspection and review of the complaints of 7 households and similar cases.

On February 7, 2025, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision 853/UBND-TD on handling after checking and verifying citizens' petitions. In which, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district was assigned to re-settle the citizen's complaint in accordance with the law. The completion date is before April 15, 2025.

Immediately after that, the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district issued Decision 422/QD-UBND dated February 12, 2025 on canceling the decisions to resolve the first complaints of the 7 above-mentioned citizens in Cau Giat town, issued by the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Luu district. The reason for cancellation is because the first complaint resolution by the Chairman of the People's Committee of the district in the above-mentioned decisions is not sufficient basis according to the provisions of law.

By February 20, 2025, all conclusions on the results of inspection and review of compensation and support for site clearance for the project to upgrade and expand National Highway 1A through Cau Giat town were canceled (10 conclusions).

Quynh Luu District People's Committee also assigned the Inspection and Review Team according to Decision No. 3332/QD-UBND dated November 9, 2023 of the District People's Committee to organize the inspection and review of compensation and support for site clearance for the Project to renovate and expand National Highway 1A through Cau Giat town (including households with complaints and households without complaints) and advise the District People's Committee to issue conclusions on the results of the inspection and review to develop a compensation and support plan for households according to the recommendations of the Provincial Inspectorate in Report No. 52/BC-TTR dated January 23, 2025 and the direction of the Provincial People's Committee in Official Dispatch No. 853/UBND-TD dated February 7, 2025 to ensure compliance with the provisions of law.

On February 14, 2025, the Provincial People's Committee issued Document No. 998/UBND-TD on urging and directing the settlement of backlogs in compensation for land acquisition and clearance for the National Highway 1A upgrading and expansion project. Accordingly, based on the directions of the Provincial Party Committee since 2024, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh requested the Steering Committee for payment of compensation for land acquisition and clearance for National Highway 1A (established in March 2024), relevant departments, branches and People's Committees of localities to urgently resolve and respond fully and legally to citizens' petitions related to compensation for land acquisition and clearance for National Highway 1A; focus on promptly completing the compensation plan for land acquisition and clearance (supplementary) for outstanding cases, and paying to citizens before June 30, 2025.

Talking to us, Mr. Ho Anh Thang - Chief Inspector of Quynh Luu district, concurrently Head of the Inspection and Review Team said: After receiving the direction of the District People's Committee, the Inspection and Review Team immediately took action. After having the review results, they will advise the Quynh Luu District People's Committee to issue conclusions, make plans and pay compensation to the people.

Mr. Thang also said: In the coming time, the Inspection and Review Team will report the results of the first review to the District People's Committee. It is expected that in this first phase, about 140/300 households with 3 groups of subjects will be resolved first. These are subjects with stable residential land before 1982 to 2014; households who inherited land from their parents and had stable residential land before 1982 to 2014; and households who received land transfer before 1994 (the time of PMU1 project implementation). The remaining cases will be reviewed and a written request will be sent to the Provincial People's Committee for opinion on whether to compensate or not?

It can be seen that the Provincial People's Committee's direction to Quynh Luu district to promptly and decisively handle the petitions of Cau Giat town residents related to National Highway 1A land acquisition and clearance is extremely necessary. Otherwise, in the coming time, when implementing Conclusion No. 126-KL/TW dated February 14, 2025 of the Politburo and the Secretariat on a number of contents and tasks to continue to arrange and streamline the organization of the political system in 2025, including the elimination of the intermediate level (district level), the resolution will encounter many difficulties.