Efforts to completely resolve the backlog in resettlement areas of Hua Na Hydropower Plant

(Baonghean) - Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with Comrade Lu Dinh Thi - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of Que Phong District Party Committee on compensation, support for site clearance, resettlement construction, land allocation for housing and production, support for stabilizing life and production for resettled people of the Hua Na Hydropower Plant construction project.

Na Luom resettlement village, Thong Thu commune, Que Phong district.

PV:The Hua Na Hydropower Plant construction project in Que Phong district has been completed and connected to the national grid for 3 years. However, there are still many issues to discuss regarding compensation, site clearance support, resettlement construction, land allocation for housing and production, and support for stabilizing the lives and production of resettled people. Could you tell us how these issues have been implemented so far?

Comrade Lu Dinh Thi:The construction of Hua Na Hydropower Plant is a large hydropower project of the province. After the policy of building the plant, the local authorities and people focused on it, and up to now, the plant has completed the connection to the national grid for 3 years. The issues related to the project have been resolved as follows:

Regarding compensation and support for site clearance, the district has organized the preparation of compensation plans and submitted them to the District People's Committee for approval of 446 compensation plans with a total cost of VND 740,928,533,324.0. The total compensation cost paid out is VND 702,827,550,015.0.

Regarding resettlement construction, 5 infrastructures at resettlement sites have been basically completed, specifically: Completion of leveling of 13/13 resettlement sites; 76.56 km of roads; 878 houses (including 333 houses built by the project and 545 houses built by the people themselves); 31 schools, 13 community cultural houses, 13 0.4 kV power systems + 17 transformer stations, 12 domestic water supply systems, 1 commune People's Committee headquarters and 1 commune health station, 19 landslide embankment locations.

Residential land and garden land adjacent to stable residential land have been allocated to 878 households resettled in the project to build stable houses at 13 resettlement sites and measure cadastral maps, prepare dossiers to declare and register the right to use residential land and garden land adjacent to residential land for 878/878 households, with a total measured area of ​​residential area of ​​153.9 hectares.

Agricultural land was allocated to 446 households and individuals in 6 resettlement sites with an area of ​​474.1 ha and 1.06/69.08 ha of rice fields at the Xop Co - Nam Nien resettlement site was temporarily allocated to the Village Management Board to be divided among households for temporary cultivation. Forestry land was allocated to 557 households with a total area of ​​1,673.2/7,616 ha.

Regarding the work of supporting the stabilization of life and production for resettled people, rice has been distributed to support the stabilization of life in 13/16 batches, training in production techniques, animal husbandry, and cultivation for resettled people, and cows have been distributed to 2 resettlement sites with a total of 165 cows distributed to 165 households.

PV:So what are the current backlogs, comrade?

Comrade Lu Dinh Thi:It must be admitted that, besides the achieved results, there are still outstanding issues surrounding this issue.

First of all, regarding compensation and support for site clearance, 14 compensation plans for land use right value deduction between the departure and destination resettlement areas for 14 villages in the reservoir area have not been completed yet, and 8 approved decisions with a total cost of VND 2,107,223,324.0 have not yet been paid.

Currently, there are still some infrastructure construction works that have not been completed for handover and use such as: internal traffic roads in Na Luom resettlement area, leveled traffic roads to Huoi Kho border guard station, Border Guard Station 515, Thong Thu commune, domestic water system at Pieng Cu resettlement area, Tien Phong commune. Construction of traffic system to Ru Mo area at 13 resettlement sites of Hua Na Hydropower project and some damaged domestic water works that need to be repaired.

Regarding the work of allocating resettlement land, there are currently 7 resettlement sites that have not been able to allocate other annual crop land and forestry land to the people. At 6 resettlement sites that have allocated land to households, there is still overlap. The reason why the rice fields have not been allocated to the resettlement sites is because 5 resettlement sites have difficulty reclaiming rice fields and 6 sites have fields but have not been allocated to the people because the irrigation system has not been restored or improved.

Besides, it must be frankly admitted that the work of supporting the stabilization of life and production for resettled people still has some shortcomings, such as the work of selecting contractors to implement the project of supporting production stabilization still has some errors, leading to slow implementation.

PV:Having identified those problems, what is the main cause, comrade?

Comrade Lu Dinh Thi:Objectively, the reasons are due to the relocation of a large population, limited land for agricultural production, and harsh weather, so the implementation of the above issues has encountered many difficulties. As for the subjective reasons, some functional units have not really taken action, some consulting units and contractors have limited capacity, leading to delays in implementing the plan.

PV:What solutions have local authorities proposed to overcome these shortcomings?

Comrade Lu Dinh Thi:In the immediate future, the district has assigned members of the Steering Committee to take charge of and supervise assigned locations, assign specific time to handle work, and regularly report to the Standing Committee of the Steering Committee to promptly resolve difficulties and problems.

The local Party Committee and government will have a plan to advise the Provincial People's Committee to approve the policy of requesting rice support at resettlement sites that have been granted for 48 months and those that will be granted for 48 months but have not yet allocated land for production and stabilized production. At the same time, they will ask for opinions from provincial departments and branches on completing the dossier of 14 compensation plans to deduct the value of land use rights between the place of departure and the place of resettlement due to problems with reclaimed fields at the place of departure, and at the same time, mobilize people to agree and sign the results of the price assessment. In addition, they will coordinate to solve the problem of difficulties with rice fields at 5 resettlement sites.

Life of people in Ca Na resettlement village, Thong Thu commune, Que Phong district.

Regarding production support, the district assigned the Compensation, Support and Resettlement Council to coordinate with relevant departments to review and approve adjustments to a number of items of the project to support stabilizing agricultural and forestry production to suit the actual situation and conditions at resettlement sites in the coming time. The resettlement project management board coordinates with the Compensation, Support and Resettlement Council to advise on supplementing and completing legal procedures and documents to select contractors to implement the project to support stabilizing agricultural and forestry production in accordance with Decree 63/2014/ND-CP dated June 26, 2014 of the Government to continue implementing support.

For consulting units, if they do not comply with the contract, the district will have a plan to replace them with other capable consulting units to ensure the progress, time and effectiveness of the proposed plan.

PV:Thank you for the discussion, comrade.

Phuong Thao

(Perform)