7 years of waiting for resettlement

(Baonghean.vn) - Seven years have passed, the billion-dollar project has been abandoned and wasted... and the dream of escaping a life of drifting on the river for hundreds of poor households in Vo Liet fishing village remains just a dream.

Drifting on the river

The old, dilapidated boats, the temporary patched boats... are the living quarters of the residents of the fishing village of Van Tai, Vo Liet commune, Thanh Chuong. The desire to go ashore has been a burning dream of the people for generations... In 2009, the people were happy with the news that they would be relocated to resettle in Khe Mu, Thanh Thuy commune. However, 7 years later, the living quarters of Vo Liet fishing village are still... on the riverbank.

The fishing village has been drifting along the river for generations.

Every day, people have to live by catching shrimp and fish from the river. However, now the river water is polluted, drinking water has to be bought from wells, and if they want to grow vegetables, there is no land to do so... People hope to go to Khe Mu as soon as possible.

Mr. Le Dinh Minh, a fishing villager, was upset: We have wanted to go ashore for a long time, but we keep putting them down. Our children are young and miserable. We only studied until grade 2, we have no education, so we don't know what to ask for. We have no land to settle down, we live in makeshift huts, and our jobs are "sometimes good, sometimes bad"... so life is very difficult.

According to Mr. Tran Van Lam - Secretary of Van Tai village, Vo Liet commune (Thanh Chuong), the aspirations of the cadres as well as the people are very earnest, especially some compatriots who are having to live on the river here and there, really want to settle on the mainland. And they have registered for resettlement for 6,7 years now, but until now they have not been able to. Therefore, the people here are very disappointed, I do not know where the problem is, I do not know clearly, but as a representative of the people here, I suggest that they be allowed to move to the resettlement area as soon as possible.

While the fishermen have no land to settle down, in Khe Mu, Thanh Thuy commune - the site of the resettlement area with nearly 300 hectares of fertile farmland has been abandoned for the past 7 years. The electricity system, community cultural house, kindergarten... are exposed to the sun and rain. The infrastructure is almost only partially completed... now it has become a shelter for... buffaloes and cows. Khe Mu resettlement area has become a grazing ground for livestock farmers. Many people feel sorry for the fallow land, each person fences off a plot to return to farming.

Unfinished projects, works exposed to the sun and dew cause great waste.

Fishing village waiting for resettlement, project waiting for capital!

It is known that in April 2009, the People's Committee of Nghe An province approved the project to build a model resettlement area, invested by the Nghe An Department of Rural Development, to bring fishing village residents ashore. As expected, the project will be completed in 2011 with a total investment of nearly 80 billion VND.

Accordingly, the two resettlement areas in Thanh Chuong district, Khe Mu and Trieu Duong, were built on an area of ​​420 hectares, with a scale of 165 households. However, after 2 adjustments and supplements, the total investment increased to 86 billion VND, and after 7 years of construction, the project is still unfinished.

Up to this point, only 13 out of 45 households have been resettled in the Triều Dương resettlement area. In Khe Mu, because the investor has not completed the items, even though 45 households have been assessed as meeting the criteria, Thanh Chuong district still does not agree to resettle people. The responsibility for the slow construction progress lies primarily with the investor.

Through working sessions between the Department of Rural Development, the project investor, and Thanh Chuong district, the district also discussed with the department to speed up progress, allocate capital sources, and urgently construct the remaining items, but so far there has been no solution.

Mr. Le Dinh Thanh - Vice Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee said that the locality also hopes that the province will pay attention to creating favorable conditions to urge investors as well as construction units to urgently speed up the construction of items to soon provide stable housing for households living on the river, and at the same time, hand over land to people to produce in the resettlement area planned by the State.

When will they be resettled is the question of dozens of households here.

Regarding the reason for the delay in the project's construction progress, Mr. Le Van Luong - Head of the Department of Rural Development of Nghe An province said: Due to lack of capital, the total investment has been adjusted twice, supplemented from 80 billion to 86 billion VND, but the project has not yet been completed to hand over to the district.

Regarding the function of the branch as an investor, the branch has also submitted it to the Provincial People's Committee and the Provincial People's Committee has also assigned it to the Department of Finance. However, due to budget difficulties, the capital source has not yet been allocated. If the capital is not allocated, according to the Government's request, there must be capital to carry out the construction, and only with capital can the project be completed and handed over to the people to live in. If there is no capital, the project will certainly continue to be behind schedule.

Due to lack of capital, it is unknown when the project will be completed. The billion-dollar project continues to lie "covered" in the rain. And the residents of Vo Liet fishing village are still dreaming of a new place to live while waiting wearily.

Charter