Plan to handle surplus cultural houses after merging blocks and hamlets

The Department of Finance received Official Dispatch No. 5414/UBND-TH dated July 4, 2023 of the Provincial People's Committee on handling voters' opinions and recommendations before the 14th session of the 18th Provincial People's Council.

Opinions of voters Phung Quang Dien, residing in Le Loi hamlet, Nghia Hanh commune, Tan Ky district; Ho Van Mai, residing in Trung Son hamlet, Phu Son commune, Tan Ky district; voters of Yen Hop commune, Quy Hop district; voters of Nghia My commune, Thai Hoa town; voters of Vien Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district reflected that after implementing the policy of merging hamlets, currently, hamlets have redundant cultural houses that are not used, leading to degradation, damage and waste. Meanwhile, the cultural houses are being used too cramped, not enough for people to live, causing many difficulties when organizing activities. Propose that the Provincial People's Committee direct the handling of redundant cultural houses, at the same time, have a plan to upgrade or build new cultural houses of blocks and hamlets to ensure serving people's activities, contributing to ensuring the criteria for building new rural areas.

Based on the assigned functions and tasks, the Department of Finance has the following responses to recommendations within its management scope:

According to the provisions of Article 5, Decree No. 167/2017/ND-CP of the Government on the rearrangement and handling of public assets (supplemented and amended in Decree No. 67/2021/ND-CP dated July 15, 2021) stipulating the order of rearrangement and handling of houses and land, the agencies, organizations and units directly managing and using houses and land shall prepare a declaration report and propose a rearrangement and handling plan for all houses and land facilities under management and use, and send it to the superior management agency (if any) for synthesis and reporting to the competent authority to prepare a rearrangement and handling plan according to regulations. In the past time, the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Finance have issued many guiding and urging documents, and the implementation of rearrangement and handling of houses and land has received attention from localities and accelerated progress. Up to now (as of June 30, 2023), the preparation, submission and approval of plans for rearrangement and handling of houses and land have been completed: 3,764/4,362 establishments, reaching 87%. Specifically, the rearrangement and handling of houses and land in some localities such as:

- Regarding surplus cultural houses due to the merger of hamlets in Vien Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Currently, the Department of Finance has submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for approval the plan for 12 surplus cultural houses of the People's Committee of Vien Thanh commune due to the merger of hamlets (according to Decision No. 2044/QD-UBND dated July 12, 2023), of which, 9 facilities will be retained and continued to be used; assets on land will be sold and land use rights of 3 facilities will be transferred.

- For Phu Son Commune Cultural House, Tan Ky District: Approved according to Decision No. 2291/QD-UBND dated August 4, 2022: 8 facilities retained, 1 facility transferred (Tan Lam Cultural House, expected to be transferred to Tan Lam Kindergarten), currently submitting for approval 2 facilities: recovery plan to plan for auction.

- Regarding cultural houses in Nghia Hanh commune, Tan Ky district: There are 15 cultural houses; the plan to retain and use 13 cultural houses and the plan to reclaim 2 facilities for planning and auction is being submitted for approval.

- For cultural houses in Nghia My commune, Thai Hoa town: There are 13 cultural houses that the Provincial People's Committee has approved the plan to retain and continue using in Decision No. 2039/QD-UBND dated July 12, 2023 and Decision No. 1429/QD-UBND dated May 25, 2022.

- Regarding the surplus cultural houses due to the merger of hamlets in Yen Hop commune, Quy Hop district: There are 12 cultural houses. Currently, the Department of Finance has submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for approval of the plan for 10 surplus cultural houses of the People's Committee of Yen Hop commune due to the merger of hamlets, including: Retaining and continuing to use 10 houses (Decision No. 3100/QD-UBND dated October 10, 2022 of the Provincial People's Committee); 1 house is in the process of compiling documents to submit to the Departments: Finance, Natural Resources and Environment, Construction with the expected plan to retain and continue to use; 1 house has not been rearranged due to lack of legal documents on land.

The arrangement plan is proposed by the locality based on the actual needs of the locality. In particular, for the hamlet cultural house, some localities, due to the need for cultural institutions (library, cultural activities, sports, etc.), still propose to arrange according to the plan of retaining and continuing to use the cultural house facilities after the merger.

In case the locality proposes an auction plan for the surplus cultural house after the merger (after consulting with local people, a new location will be planned and the old location will be auctioned to get funds for reconstruction), on the basis of conformity with the planning, land use plan, construction plan, new rural planning, then agree with the locality's proposal and the Provincial People's Council has also had mechanisms and policies for funds collected from the auction of surplus houses and land after the merger, specifically as follows:

- The policy on investment in construction, upgrading, renovation and procurement of equipment for cultural and sports facilities for communes, wards, towns, villages, hamlets, blocks and hamlets is implemented according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 2, Resolution No. 30/2020/NQ-HDND.^[1], specifically:

“1. Investing in construction, upgrading, renovation and purchasing equipment for 15 cultural houses and 11 stadiums for communes, wards and towns.

a) Ethnic minority and mountainous communes in region III and region II: Support 80% of the total investment approved by competent authorities, but not exceeding 2.8 billion VND for cultural houses and 960 million VND for stadiums;

b) Ethnic minority and mountainous communes in region 1: Support 60% of the total investment approved by competent authorities, but not exceeding 2.1 billion VND for cultural houses and 720 million VND for stadiums;

c) Remaining communes, wards and towns: Support 40% of the total investment approved by competent authorities, but not exceeding 1.4 billion VND for cultural houses and 480 million VND for stadiums.

2. Investment in construction, upgrading, renovation and equipment purchase for 83 projectsCultural and sports areas for villages, hamlets, blocks, and quarters:

a) Particularly disadvantaged villages, hamlets, blocks, and hamlets and villages, hamlets, blocks, and hamlets in ethnic minority and mountainous communes and villages, hamlets, blocks, and hamlets after merger in region III and region II: Support 80% of the total investment approved by competent authorities, but not exceeding 320 million VND;

b) Villages, hamlets, blocks, and quarters in ethnic minority and mountainous communes in Region I and villages, hamlets, blocks, and quarters after the merger: Support 60% of the total investment approved by competent authorities, but not exceeding 240 million VND".

- In Resolution No. 20/2021/NQ-HDND^[2]The Provincial People's Council has stipulated to retain and regulate 100% of the proceeds from the sale of public property to reinvest in the construction of headquarters of agencies and units with property according to the Project approved by competent authorities.

Thus, in case the cultural houses of the old hamlets do not ensure the premises and facilities to serve the people's daily activities after the merger and implement the auction plan to implement the new location planning or expand the existing area, after the auction, the proceeds from the auction can be used for new construction according to the ratio prescribed in Resolution No. 20/2021/NQ-HDND dated December 9, 2021 mentioned above.

[1] Resolution No. 30/2020/NQ-HDND dated December 13, 2020 of the Provincial People's Council on support policies for building cultural and sports institutions at the grassroots level in Nghe An province by 2025;

[2] Resolution No. 20/2021/NQ-HDND dated December 9, 2021 of the Provincial People's Council on promulgating regulations on decentralization of revenue sources, expenditure tasks and percentage (%) of revenue sharing between budgets of local authorities at all levels in Nghe An province for the period 2022-2025.