New developments in the slow-progressing Van Xuan University of Technology project ("Dozens of hectares of abandoned land at Van Xuan University of Technology", Nghe An Electronic Newspaper, December 23, 2021) are that the investor has submitted a request to the Provincial People's Committee.
Before talking about the request of the investor of Van Xuan University of Technology (Van Xuan University of Technology), let's summarize the content of the article "Dozens of hectares of abandoned land at Van Xuan University of Technology". That was in December 2021, Nghe An Newspaper received feedback that in the Van Xuan University of Technology Project, there were more than 41 hectares of land abandoned for dozens of years. The coastal urban area of Cua Lo has limited land fund, how could this happen? Verification showed that the information was correct, even if calculated correctly and fully, the abandoned project land fund would exceed 41 by a few hectares. Therefore, voters were upset and petitioned for consideration of reclamation. And the frustrations and petitions of voters of Cua Lo town were listened to by the provincial authorities, who assigned relevant departments and branches to inspect.
Early this June, I contacted the People's Committee of Cua Lo town to get information about the situation at the Van Xuan University of Technology Project. Over the phone, an officer from the Investment Management Department said: "There are some recent documents and papers, I will send them to you." The next day, the documents were sent. Surprisingly, the investor submitted a request to return 20 hectares of land of Van Xuan University of Technology to the People's Committee of Nghe An province.
The "Application" sets the release date as November 18, 2021. Here, the investor reiterates the project's objective (on a land area of 50 hectares with a total capital of 120 billion VND): "Building a private university to train in Science and Technology, Economic Management Science and scientific research, built with the principle of valuing training quality), with the purpose of improving people's knowledge and nurturing talents. Project scale: 6,500 students after 4 years, from the 5th year onwards, it will maintain from 8,000 to 10,000 students". Regarding the project implementation progress, it is divided into 2 phases. Phase 1 from 2007 to 2010 will build facilities: Official residence area, lecture hall area, dormitory, library, hall, conference room, laboratory, physical education and defense areas. Constructing infrastructure, building surrounding walls, leveling the land for phase 1 construction on an area of 8.47 hectares; constructing water supply and drainage systems; power supply systems, internal networks, purchasing teaching equipment. Phase 2, implemented from 2010 to 2015. Investment will be made in construction on a land area of 41.53 hectares of administrative headquarters, international conference center, lecture halls, dormitories, teachers' houses, and multi-purpose gymnasium.
Citing the legal procedures for project implementation, the investor reported, “Up to now, the project has completed phase 1. The school has modern, high-quality facilities and learning equipment, which have been recognized by provincial leaders, other schools and people in the region. Van Xuan University of Technology has been recruiting and training continuously since 2008, and many students have graduated and worked at many facilities at home and abroad.” At the same time, the reason for the delay in implementing phase 2 was stated: “However, the number of students enrolled each year is still low, the investment source is mainly from investors contributing capital and borrowing, so the investment in phase 2 of the project is facing many difficulties.” And then there were 5 proposals:
“1) Please return 20 hectares of land belonging to the school campus according to Decision No. 253/QD-UBND on approving the adjustment of the 1/2,000 scale zoning plan of Nghi Huong ward, Cua Lo town, Nghe An province on January 28, 2021. 2) Please support the amount of money that the school has spent on site clearance, campus renovation, construction of facilities, and planting trees on the land according to current State regulations. 3) The school's investors would like to be sponsored to establish a detailed 1/500 plan on the area of 20 hectares that has been converted for this purpose. 4) The investor of Van Xuan University of Technology would like to implement the project according to the approved plan of this 20-hectare area, to become a modern, high-quality area, contributing to the development of Cua Lo town, as well as Nghe An province. 5) Van Xuan University of Technology would like to Adjust the planning of the remaining 20 hectares to suit the new situation on the basis of linking with potential domestic and foreign educational investors so that training work is more effective and of higher quality.
On May 27, 2022, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued Document No. 3012/STNMT-QLDB to the Departments of Construction, Planning and Investment; People's Committee of Cua Lo town and relevant agencies to consider and request the investor of the Van Xuan University of Technology Project (the reason the Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued this document is because it was assigned the task by the Provincial People's Committee in Official Dispatch No. 446/UBND-CN dated January 22, 2022).
In Document No. 3012/STNMT-QLDB, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment reiterated verbatim the requests of the investor of the Van Xuan University of Technology Project; information about the project; project implementation results; times the project was inspected and audited, and clearly stated how the investor complied with the inspection conclusions approved by the Provincial People's Committee.
According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Van Xuan University of Technology Project has been inspected by the Provincial People's Committee to conduct inspections and conclusions, and granted an extension in Official Dispatch No. 6804/UBND-DTXD dated September 27, 2013 (extending the completion of Phase II of the Project in the fourth quarter of 2016). However, up to now, the project has only completed the investment items of Phase 1 and put into operation, has not yet started construction of Phase 2 items; has not fully implemented the inspection conclusions of the inspection team established under Decision No. 697/QD.UBND-XD dated March 1, 2013 of the Provincial People's Committee, violating Point i, Clause 1, Article 64, Land Law 2013; Investment Law. At the same time, the project was reported by interdisciplinary inspection teams to the Provincial People's Committee to propose to reclaim the area of phase 2 of the project (Department of Planning and Investment in Official Dispatch No. 1905/SKHDT-KTDT, Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Official Dispatch No. 6559/STNMT-QLDD dated November 5, 2021).
Therefore, for content 1 of the petition of Van Xuan University of Technology, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment plans to advise the Provincial People's Committee to handle it according to 1 of 2 options:
“Option 1: Reclaim the area of 41.53 hectares in phase 2 of the project, reclaim the land. Reason for reclamation: The project is behind schedule, violating Point i, Clause 1, Article 64, Land Law 2013; Investment Law; the land use term has been extended but the investor does not comply with the inspection conclusions of the Provincial People's Committee. The reclaimed area will be assigned to the Provincial Land Fund Development Center to manage and exploit the land fund effectively, in accordance with the law.
Option 2: Reclaim an area of 20 hectares in phase 2 of the project according to the investor's request to return land (location and boundary of reclamation: require the investor to coordinate with the Department of Construction and local authorities to determine). Reason for reclamation: Because the investor returns the land to the State".
Regarding contents 2; 3; 4; 5 of the Petition, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, because the petition contents are related to the management areas of many departments and branches, they will only be considered after the results of the Provincial People's Committee's handling of the specific recovered area of the project. Therefore, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment requests the Provincial People's Committee to assign departments and branches to inspect and respond after the results of handling content 1 are available.
The Department of Construction responded to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Official Dispatch 1927/SXD-QHXD dated June 6, 2022, with the view of "agreeing with option 1 proposed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment: Recovering the area of 41.53 hectares in phase 2 of the project and assigning the organization to manage and use the land in accordance with legal regulations". Reason: "The project to build Van Xuan University of Technology in Nghi Huong ward, Cua Lo town, phase 2 (41.53 ha) was allowed by the Provincial People's Committee to extend the completion schedule in the fourth quarter of 2016 in Document No. 6804/UBND-DTXD dated September 27, 2013. On July 25, 2017, the Department of Planning and Investment issued Document No. 1905/SKHBT-DN requesting the Provincial People's Committee to reclaim the area of phase 2 of the project and on November 5, 2021, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued Document No. 6559/STNMT-QLBD reporting the results of the inspection of slow-progress projects in the province, in which, it recommended the Provincial People's Committee to reclaim the land area of 41.53 ha of phase 2 of the project due to the project being behind schedule, violating Point I, Clause 1, Article 64, Land Law 2013. Up to now, the owner The investor has not yet started construction of the project items in phase 2 according to the approved project plan (phase 1 has just been completed, area 8.47 ha).
Regarding the People's Committee of Cua Lo town, on June 2, 2022, there was Document No. 826/UBND-QLDT sent to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment with the content: "Implementing Official Dispatch No. 3012/STNMT-QLDD dated May 27, 2022 of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment on giving opinions on the handling plan for the Van Xuan University of Technology Project in Nghi Huong Ward, Cua Lo town. After research, the People's Committee of the town proposed to handle according to option 1: Recovering an area of 41.53 hectares belonging to phase 2 of the project".
The representative of the People's Committee of Cua Lo town who signed Document No. 826/UBND-QLDT was the Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of the town, Mr. Vo Van Hung. Contacted and asked Mr. Vo Van Hung to inform about the specific views of the People's Committee of Cua Lo town on the 5 proposals from Van Xuan University of Technology. The reply was: "The handling of the land area for the implementation of phase 2 of the project, the town has stated in Document No. 826/UBND-QLDT. This is also the answer to the first proposal of the investor. Regarding proposals 2, 3, 4, 5 of the investor, as stated by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Document No. 3012/STNMT-QLDB, they are related to the management areas of many departments and branches and are only considered and decided by the Provincial People's Committee, so Cua Lo town has no opinion".
However, Vice Chairman of Cua Lo Town People’s Committee Vo Van Hung affirmed that even if the investor is approved by the competent authority to return 20 hectares of land and receive planning funding, the implementation of the new project on this 20-hectare area will still have to go through bidding. “This is a legal provision…”, Mr. Vo Van Hung emphasized.
An expert commented on the proposals of the investor of Van Xuan University of Technology Project as follows: “The investor has absolutely no intention of returning the land. Instead, it is aiming to change the land use purpose, to change the educational project to another more profitable field with themselves as the investor. The request for planning funding and the description of bright future prospects are aimed at this goal. It can be understood as “letting go of the iron fish to catch the perch”!”
