Timely resolve petitions of people in hydropower resettlement areas
After many years of petitions from the resettlement area residents and local authorities, the investor of the Ban Ve Hydropower project has agreed to invest in additional items.
Agree to invest in many items in 2 resettlement communes
On August 19, Mr. Nguyen Phung Hung - Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Tuong Duong district said that the locality had just received a document from Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) regarding additional resettlement support for the Ban Ve Hydropower Project. "After many years of continuous petitions from local people and authorities, finally the wishes of the people are about to be fulfilled," said Mr. Hung.
According to EVN, the project's compensation, support and resettlement work has been basically completed by EVN in accordance with the temporary regulations on compensation, resettlement and relocation of the Ban Ve Hydropower Project, which were issued by the Ministry of Industry in Document No. 1174/CV-NLDK dated March 16, 2004. However, in the process of exploiting and operating infrastructure works and public works, there were some shortcomings arising from changes in the administrative organization of communes, villages and hamlets and the updating of new rural criteria. The additional support from project capital as proposed by the People's Committee of Nghe An province is not included in current regulations, so EVN has sent documents, in which it recommends that the Prime Minister direct the People's Committee of Nghe An province to invest in additional infrastructure construction items according to Decision 64/2014/QD-TTg dated November 18, 2014 on supporting the stabilization of life and production for people after resettlement.
However, the People's Committee of Nghe An province continues to request competent authorities to request EVN to resolve support for these contents from the project investment capital. Implementing the direction of the Prime Minister in Official Dispatch No. 143/TBVPCP dated April 13, 2019, based on the request of the investor, on March 19, 2020, EVN sent a document to the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises proposing to allow support according to the proposal of the People's Committee of Nghe An province from the investment capital of the Ban Ve Hydropower Project, in accordance with the provisions of Clause 4, Article 1, Decision No. 06/2019/QD-TTg dated February 1, 2019 of the Prime Minister. However, up to now, this proposal has not been approved by competent authorities.
To completely resolve the existing problems and finalize the project, EVN is requesting the Ministry of Industry and Trade to report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision on allowing additional support according to the locality's proposal with the contents reviewed and reported by the investor in Official Letter No. 71/BC-EVNGENCO1 dated May 15, 2024 and Official Letter No. 80/BC-EVNGENCO1 dated May 30, 2024. In case the Prime Minister allows support from the project's capital source, it is recommended that the investor be approved to implement the plan to transfer the final one-time support fund to the locality to self-implement the construction investment and be responsible for finalizing the support value according to regulations, the one-time support value is included in the project's final settlement value.
According to the investor's report, after review, the parties agreed on the estimated value to propose to the competent authorities for consideration as follows: The estimated value after review for Tuong Duong district is more than 30 billion VND. Including the following items: Construction of the resettlement area at Xop Vi cluster, Xop Chao village, Luong Minh commune, Tuong Duong district is more than 25 billion VND; construction of Khe Chong resettlement area to urgently relocate 19 households in Ve village out of the landslide area, Yen Na commune, Tuong Duong district is more than 5.5 billion VND.
For the support items in Thanh Chuong district, the project investor and the Provincial People's Committee have reviewed and agreed on the estimated value of the proposed support items recorded in the working minutes dated November 3, 2023 with a total estimated value of more than 20 billion VND. The items in Thanh Chuong district that will be invested include the Noong village cultural house, Ngoc Lam commune; Martyrs' Memorial, rural market and stadium in the two resettlement communes of Thanh Son and Ngoc Lam.
Continue to propose compensation for land on flooded land
Also related to the Ban Ve Hydropower Project, the People's Committee of Nghe An province has just issued a document on resolving existing problems and difficulties related to compensation and support for land on flood plains for the Ban Ve Hydropower Project. Previously, in April 2023, the People's Committee of Nghe An province also sent a similar document to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, however, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the authority of this issue belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
A recent document from the Provincial People's Committee stated that, according to current regulations, households with land areas above the flooded level of hydropower project reservoirs are eligible to prepare land compensation and support records according to the provisions of Clause 3, Clause 4, Article 5, Decision No. 64/2014/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister on special policies for resettlement of irrigation and hydropower projects. Specifically, Clause 3 stipulates that resettled households with production land areas located outside the reservoir protection corridor as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 3, Decree No. 112/2008/ND-CP dated October 20, 2008 of the Government, moving to a resettlement area 5km or more away from the old production site, and having their land recovered, will be compensated for the land. The Provincial People's Committee shall base on the actual situation of the locality to decide on land recovery and land compensation.
Clause 4 stipulates that resettled households and affected households whose production land area is located outside the reservoir protection corridor as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 3, Decree No. 112/2008/ND-CP dated October 20, 2008 of the Government, with a distance from the place of residence to the production land area of less than 5km but there is no road to the production land area, the Provincial People's Committee shall base on the actual situation of the locality to decide to recover the land and compensate for the land.
However, according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 23, Decision No. 64/2014/QD-TTg, projects and items that have completed compensation, support and resettlement payments and projects and items that have approved compensation, support and resettlement plans before the effective date of this Decision shall not be subject to this Decision. Accordingly, the Ban Ve Hydropower Project has been approved by the Vietnam Electricity Group for the detailed planning of compensation, support and resettlement of the Ban Ve Hydropower Project in Decision No. 1291/QD-EVN-QLXD-KTDT dated May 19, 2005 and the Ministry of Industry (now the Ministry of Industry and Trade) has agreed on temporary regulations on compensation, resettlement of the Ban La Hydropower Project (now Ban Ve) in Document No. 1174/CV-NLĐK dated March 16, 2005, in which, land compensation is only provided to households within the project's affected area (the area of the reservoir flooded, below the elevation of 200m). Therefore, households with land area above the flooded level of the Ban Ve Hydropower Project are not eligible to prepare a dossier for compensation and land support.
But in reality, when implementing the project according to the policy, households with residential land and agricultural land located on the flooded level of the hydroelectric reservoir must relocate with the village community, unable to stay, as well as return to production on this land. Moreover, up to now, the work of compiling compensation and land support records for the Ban Ve Hydroelectric Project has not been completed, the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district has not approved the detailed plan for compensation and land support to serve as a basis for arranging funds for payment to the people, therefore, it is necessary to carry out land acquisition, compensation and site clearance for land on the flooded level to have a basis for compensating the difference between the place of departure and the place of destination similar to households subject to resettlement within the flooded area of the reservoir.
On the other hand, most of the land area above the floodplain of households is in the protection forest planning according to Decision No. 48/2014/QD-UBND dated August 15, 2014 of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee on adjusting the planning of 3 types of forests, but has been granted Forestry Land Use Rights Certificates to households. Therefore, currently, some households still return to the old place (the Ban Ve Hydropower Reservoir area) to do business and produce, affecting people's lives and affecting the locality in land management, as well as ensuring security and order in the area.
Therefore, to ensure the rights of resettled people of the Ban Ve Hydropower Project, as well as to effectively implement land management, security and order in the area, the People's Committee of Nghe An province has a document requesting the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to report to the Prime Minister for permission to develop a plan to implement compensation and support for land on the floodplain of the Ban Ve Hydropower Project according to the provisions of Clause 3, Clause 4, Article 5, Decision No. 64/2014/QD-TTg./.
