Nghe An: Urging progress of the project of an eternal ecological cemetery to serve people's needs

An urgent project, many times adjusting the scale

That is the project of the Eternal Ecological Cemetery Park in Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district, Nghe An province, implemented by Phuc Lac Vien Company Limited - Nghe An Universal Cremation Center, approved by the Provincial People's Committee in the investment policy in Decision No. 3672/QD-UBND dated August 17, 2017, approved the detailed construction planning at a scale of 1/500 in Decision No. 2566/QD-UBND dated June 4, 2016.

Regarding the objectives and scale of the project, it is clearly stated: Investing in the construction of an ecological cemetery park to ensure stable and sustainable development of the urban area, effectively using the existing land fund; Creating a model investment project in Nghe An province in the field of burial and burial services; Applying burial technology solutions in an economical, cultural way, organizing land use management, protecting the environment; meeting the urgent needs in the field of burial of Vinh city residents and neighboring districts. The project scale has a total area of ​​85 hectares; location and implementation location in Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district; total investment capital of 465,314 billion VND; the project's operating period is 50 years.

Nghe An needs to soon have cremation service facilities

(Baonghean.vn) - Because Nghe An does not have a crematorium, for a long time people in the province still have to go to Ha Tinh or Thanh Hoa... That leads to many inconveniences because the roads are long and the procedures are sometimes cumbersome.

Scale drawing of the Eternal Ecological Park project at 1/500 scale.

During the project implementation, on February 19, 2019, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision 445/QD-UBND approving the planning adjustment, with the reason: "In order to promote the efficiency of land use, in accordance with the terrain conditions of the area and in accordance with the business orientation in the coming time, Phuc Lac Vien Company Limited - Nghe An Universal Transformation Station made adjustments to the planning to reorganize the landscape architecture space of the project, redefine the boundary scope of the planned land to suit the needs of use (remove the area of ​​3.94 hectares of agricultural land to the East of the 30m planning road connecting National Highway 46 with National Highway 1A avoiding Vinh); at the same time, redefine the name of the new project investor to suit the project investment policy".

In this adjustment, the project reduced 3.94 hectares compared to the approved planning, leaving 81.06 hectares. The planning area is divided into main functional areas including: spiritual area, cremation area, first burial area, sand burial area, administrative + general service area, technical processing area, green area.

Regarding wastewater drainage and environmental sanitation: All will be collected according to a separate system and led to the technical treatment area north of the planning area for treatment to meet environmental standards according to current regulations before being discharged outside the area; 100% of solid waste generated in the cemetery will be collected and brought to the technical treatment area for treatment to ensure environmental standards according to regulations.

The project's Environmental Impact Assessment Report was approved in Decision No. 5416/QD-UBND dated December 26, 2019; and the People's Council of Nghe An province allowed land recovery and land use purpose change in Resolutions No. 05/NQ-HDND dated July 12, 2019 and Resolution No. 06/NQ-HDND dated July 12, 2019.

However, the project implementation process encountered some difficulties. On November 5, 2020, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee had a meeting with relevant parties to review the project implementation status. At this meeting, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Ngoc Hoa concluded: "This is an important and urgent project with the purpose of serving people's lives, meeting the needs of burial and cremation (electricity) of Vinh city residents and surrounding areas, applying modern, cultural cremation and burial technology solutions, protecting the environment and saving land funds.

Although the recent site clearance work has achieved some results in terms of unifying the policy framework, working with households, local Party committees and authorities with determination, the progress of implementation is still slow. In addition to objective reasons, the direction and coordination work has not been drastic, and lessons need to be learned to focus on direction in the coming time.”. The Provincial People’s Committee has also requested relevant parties to focus on speeding up the project’s progress. The investor is required to complete the crematorium area before the fourth quarter of 2021.

Perspective of the Eternal Ecological Park project.

On April 14, 2021, the Provincial People's Committee continued to issue Decision No. 992/QD-UBND, approving the adjustment of the detailed construction planning at a scale of 1/500 of the Eternal Ecological Park in Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district. The reason for adjusting the planning is stated: "Currently, the investor has completed the procedures for the project's design documents, which have been appraised by the Department of Infrastructure of the Ministry of Construction in Notice No. 450/HTKT-CTR dated October 9, 2019; the Provincial People's Committee approved the environmental impact assessment report in Decision No. 5416/QD-UBND dated December 26, 2019; completed the connection with electricity and water supply units; and is carrying out compensation and site clearance work to implement construction. Because within the approved project planning boundary, there is a residential road (East of the project) connecting from National Highway 46B through Dai Hue hamlet to Provincial Road 542E serving the travel of people, production and business activities of enterprises, so the planning should be adjusted to move this road outside the planning boundary to ensure more convenient travel and living for people, and at the same time, please add a new road from National Highway 46B to the southern fence of the project within the planning boundary to serve as an entrance to the cemetery.According to this planning adjustment, the total area of ​​the construction planning area is 78.47 hectares (a decrease of 2.59 hectares).

Speed ​​up project progress to promptly serve people's needs

On September 6, 2021, at the headquarters of the People's Committee of Nghe An province, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung chaired a working session to review the implementation status of the Eternal Ecological Cemetery Park project in Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district.

Attending the meeting were Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Ngoc Hoa; representatives of leaders of departments, branches and units: Natural Resources and Environment, Construction, Planning and Investment, Finance, Transport, Agriculture and Rural Development, Industry and Trade, Health; People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district, People's Committee of Hung Tay commune and Phuc Lac Vien Company Limited - Nghe An Universe Transformation Station (project investor).

After listening to the project investor and the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district report on the implementation status, difficulties in site clearance, implementation plan to accelerate project construction and opinions of members attending the meeting, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung concluded: The investment project of the Eternal Ecological Cemetery Park in Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district, Nghe An province is an important project with the purpose of serving the people, meeting the burial needs of people in Vinh city and surrounding areas, applying modern, economical, cultural and environmentally friendly burial technology solutions. However, the progress of implementation is too slow, mainly due to the lack of decisive direction and coordination of the district and commune in site clearance and land handover for the project, which needs to be learned from and focused on in the coming time.

Perspective of the Eternal Ecological Park project.

In order for the project to be implemented promptly and completed as soon as possible to serve the people, the People's Committee of Nghe An province requests:

1.Regarding site clearance and land handover phase 1 (32.55 ha):

- For the overlapping land area within the scope of environmental improvement and restoration in areas 1A, 1B, 1D Eo Gio, Hung Tay commune, Hung Nguyen district (currently managed by VSIP Nghe An Co., Ltd.) and land managed by the commune, it is required to hand over to the project investor before September 10, 2021 to implement the construction of works serving cremation. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district shall coordinate with the investor and related units to promptly implement and ensure the prescribed progress.

- For the land area currently used by households:

+ Allows the application of compensation and support for crops according to the unit price for planting scattered trees similar to the compensation and support plan applied in the same area when implementing the VSIP Nghe An Raw Material Leveling Project.

+ Agree not to consider other support for households engaged in forestry productionon land managed by the Commune People's Committee.

+ Regarding the proposal on compensation and support for agricultural land area for aquaculture, the Department of Finance shall preside over and coordinate with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district to inspect and advise the Provincial People's Committee to ensure compliance with regulations, and report on September 8, 2021.

Request the Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district to thoroughly disseminate the information to the political system at all levels, propagate and mobilize people to implement and complete site clearance to hand over all remaining land of phase 1 to the project investor before September 20, 2021.

After receiving the site, the project investor is requested to focus financial resources, human resources, and construction equipment to urgently complete the two crematoriums and related auxiliary works before November 30, 2021.

2.For the project access road category:

The investor is required to focus on early and timely implementation to put into use according to the construction progress of the crematorium and auxiliary works (phase 1), ensuring transportation and traffic in and out of the project to limit impacts on people's lives. In case the project has not been completed in time, it is allowed to temporarily use the residential road to implement project activities but there must be a repair and maintenance plan to ensure safety when in use.

The investor is constructing the road leading to the project. Photo taken on the morning of September 30, 2021.

- Assign the Department of Industry and Trade to coordinate, guide procedures and grant licenses for the use of explosives for construction within 5 days from the date the unit submits the dossier; Relevant departments, branches and the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district promptly coordinate to hand over the route, support construction to ensure compliance with technical design, safety, progress and regulations.

3.Regarding the proposal to support the construction of social security works for Hung Tay commune: Agree with the enterprise's proposal, assign the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district to direct the People's Committee of Hung Tay commune to hand over the site, promptly complete the construction and put it into use to serve the people in the area.

4.Assign the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district, relevant departments, branches and units to learn from the experience of phase 1, focus on preparing conditions to implement phase 2 of the project as soon as possible, ensuring the correct investment progress and construction planning of the approved project.

5.Due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the particularly urgent nature of the project, it is recommended that Phuc Lac Vien Company Limited - Nghe An Universal Cremation Center continue to actively coordinate with the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district and the People's Committee of Hung Tay commune to complete compensation and site clearance support for the project; focus resources on urgently constructing the crematorium, auxiliary items (phase 1) and the road to the project to ensure quality, environmental hygiene, absolute safety, shorten the completion time and put it into use as soon as possible. Request departments, branches and localities to proactively coordinate and support the project investor to complete procedures and carry out construction quickly and conveniently according to regulations so that the project can be put into operation promptly and effectively.

Duc Dung - Pham Bang