Project "suspended" due to compensation requirements not in accordance with regulations

(Baonghean) -Investors lacking economic potential is one of the main reasons why many real estate projects in our province are slow in progress... But there are also investors who have spent hundreds of billions of dong determined to complete the project on schedule, but in the end it is still "suspended" just because of unreasonable compensation requirements.

A deep, barren land next to the Lam River road (in Ben Thuy ward) has been invested by Thanh Thai Thinh Company Limited with a lot of money to implement the project of Trade Center, service hotel, housing and luxury villas in Ben Thuy ward. The project started in October 2008 and is divided into 2 investment areas.

At the project north of the regulating lake (in block 13) with an area of ​​over 41,789m2, the investor has completed compensation for site clearance and basically invested in the construction of technical infrastructure such as bomb and mine clearance, geological survey, site leveling, road construction, clean water system, domestic electricity system, lighting system and has been granted a land use right certificate. The project south of the regulating lake (in block 15) with an area of ​​over 17,766m2, technical infrastructure works have also completed more than 70 volumes of work, in which the items are electricity works, roads, drainage works reaching over 90% of the volume. The investor has signed contracts with a number of partners to contribute capital to invest in the construction of technical infrastructure and rough construction of houses to hand over to customers on schedule (in October 2011). According to the authorities' assessment, this is one of the projects in which the investor strictly complies with state regulations and obligations and quickly implements construction.

The project progressed quite smoothly, but on August 28, 2011, suddenly some people claiming to be members of the old Ben Thuy Stevedoring Cooperative requested to stop the project and set up tents and planted trees on the project land to prevent construction progress. The enterprise met and discussed with the people many times to explain the compensation for land acquisition and clearance of the project, but to no avail; the enterprise also made many petitions to the relevant authorities and agencies but they have not been resolved and since then the project has been "suspended".

Nearly 170 billion VND invested in the project of Trade Center, Service Hotel, Housing and Luxury Villas in Ben Thuy Ward has now become... a dumping ground for construction materials!

Mr. Nguyen Hong Sam - representative of Thanh Thai Thinh Company Limited said: “We have fully fulfilled our obligations to the state and properly implemented the compensation for site clearance; but just because some people hindered the project construction, the relevant agencies and sectors have not handled it promptly. So nearly 170 billion VND that the enterprise invested in this project is being frozen, causing frustration for the investor and customers, especially losing business opportunities for the enterprise”.

To clarify this issue, we directly worked with the functional department of Vinh City People's Committee and learned that: During the process of planning, land acquisition, compensation and site clearance to implement the project, Vinh City People's Committee approved the compensation and support plan for the subjects currently using the land according to regulations (these households have received compensation for land acquisition, no complaints and handed over the land to the investor); however, some households (formerly members of Ben Thuy Stevedoring Cooperative) are not currently directly using the land but have filed a petition to reclaim the land and request compensation for the land on the grounds that this land originated from Ben Thuy Stevedoring Cooperative (in fact, it has been dissolved and has not been in operation for 22 years).

Although the relevant authorities have repeatedly organized direct dialogues and specifically responded to the issue of compensation being wrongly targeted (because at the time of land acquisition, these complainants did not directly use the land), some people did not accept it and filed collective complaints, gathering in large numbers to cause disorder in the area, obstructing the project's construction. Recently, at the Conference to remove difficulties and obstacles in real estate projects, the leaders of Nghe An province requested relevant authorities to actively participate in promptly resolving the obstacles in this project.

Another real estate project in Dien Ky commune (Dien Chau) is also stuck because 17/384 households have not agreed to compensation for land acquisition. That is the Dien Ky commune commercial and service urban area project invested by the Construction, Service and Labor Cooperation Joint Stock Company - OLECO, which has been stalled for nearly 2 years. Mr. Le Xuan Luyen - General Director of OLECO Joint Stock Company, complained: "We are very passionate about this project, so we have tried our best to do our best to speed up the progress, have invested more than 30 billion VND in the project, but still cannot continue to carry out the project. Although the area of ​​this land is public land and the enterprise has completed the compensation for land acquisition, it is still stuck, causing the project to be behind schedule and causing damage to the enterprise".

It is known that this project has a total area of ​​over 33 hectares and during the implementation of the project, there were also cases where people obstructed the construction unit. To resolve this problem and help investors feel secure in implementing the project, the provincial leaders have proposed solutions such as flexibly transferring the public land area of ​​17 households who have not accepted compensation to public land area in another location, or the investor can plan to concentrate in one area within the project land. And if the households do not agree, then if necessary, the relevant agencies will take timely measures.

In the current gloomy situation of the real estate market, all levels and sectors need to pay attention to solving problems for investors who are trying and determined to complete projects on schedule.

Hoang Vinh