Quy Hop will protect the construction of the 'suspended' waste dump project

(Baonghean.vn) - Through the Nghe An Newspaper hotline, some residents of Quy Hop district informed that the landfill project in Tho Hop commune has been "suspended" for too long, leading to the temporary landfill being overloaded, causing environmental pollution. Regarding this project, residents of Thung Khang hamlet (Tho Hop) also commented that because the project was "suspended", the power line system through the residential area where they live was also "suspended".

Double concern

According to the locals, Thung Khang used to be an extremely difficult area, like an isolated area separated from the rest of Tho Hop commune. To get to Thung Khang, the only access road was rugged and rocky; residents had no electricity, no water... Now, with the landfill project, the access road has been built, but because there is still no electricity, no water, and it is far from the school, 27/40 households have had to build houses along Highway 48 to make it convenient for their children to study.

Officials of Thung Khang hamlet are concerned because the power line to the waste treatment project is slow to be connected.

According to village management officials, such as Mr. Truong Doat - hamlet chief, Dang Dinh Xuan - deputy hamlet chief, said: Without electricity and water, the lives of households are very miserable. Especially the lack of electricity has hindered economic development, and spiritual life is lacking. What Mr. Doat and Mr. Xuan are concerned about is that the power lines have been pulled and wires have been installed, but because the waste disposal project at the end of Thung Khang has not been implemented, the electricity connection has not been possible.

“I know that the project has not been implemented because of land clearance problems. Previously, there were 8 households, 7 of which were workers from Quy Hop Forestry. Now, there is only one household left, who is from Nghia Dan. Yet the project is still unreasonably “suspended”, prolonging the suffering of the people of Thung Khang…”, Mr. Doat said.

Quy Hop town's temporary landfill is always overloaded.

For residents of Block 1 of Quy Hop town, the “suspended” landfill project is also causing them a lot of trouble. The town’s temporary landfill is located in a residential area. Although there are only a few households living next to the temporary landfill, the overload has caused environmental pollution, flies, and bad odors… for the whole area.

As one of the households living next to the landfill, and making a living partly from garbage, Mr. Le Trung Dai (71 years old) is very worried about his future generation. Mr. Dai said: “There are 3 households here, including the elderly, the disabled and 4 children. There are times when the pollution is very heavy. The flies are black and the stench is very strong. I am old and can’t say anything, I just feel sorry for the children…”.

Mr. Le Trung Dai (K1, Quy Hop town) talked about the town's temporary landfill being overloaded, causing pollution.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Quynh - Chairman of Quy Hop Town People's Committee, regarding the environmental pollution caused by the town's landfill, some interested press agencies have commented. Since around 2010, Quy Hop district has been approved by the Provincial People's Committee to approve the landfill project in Tho Hop commune to replace the temporary landfill in Block 1. However, due to land acquisition problems, it has not been implemented yet.

“Overloading at the temporary landfill does happen. The town knows, the district also knows and has tried to deal with the environment, not being indifferent to this work. But to solve the problem completely, it is necessary to complete the waste treatment project. Therefore, in the quarterly and annual reports on environmental work, the town has recommended that the district People's Committee speed up the progress of the centralized waste treatment project…”, Mr. Quynh said.

Will protect construction

The investment project to build a waste treatment facility for Quy Hop town and neighboring communes (with a total area of ​​6.6 hectares, in Thung Khang area, Tho Hop commune) was approved by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 1446/QD.UBND-CNXD dated April 8, 2010. However, up to now, the area identified for the project has not been cleared.

According to the investigation, the last household still stuck in the land clearance for the waste treatment project is the family of Mr. Ngo Sy Toan, Thung Khang hamlet, Tho Hop commune. According to the representative of the Quy Hop District Land Clearance Council, the problems with Mr. Ngo Sy Toan's case are related to an area of ​​land larger than 3.7 hectares, with crops such as coffee, tung oil, and acacia located in the project area.

This land area, according to Quy Hop Forestry, is land under the management of the forest farm, contracted to Mr. Ngo Sy Toan in 1993. The records kept by the forest farm clearly show this, but Mr. Ngo Sy Toan claims that the right to use the land belongs to him; he does not accept the compensation value that the District Land Acquisition and Compensation Council implements according to regulations, but demands compensation according to the compensation value of agricultural land.

Although the compensation plan has been built to ensure compliance with regulations, the district and commune authorities have explained and persuaded, Mr. Toan still does not accept it. Therefore, the project cannot be implemented; even the power line serving the project has reached the end of the route but cannot be connected, leading to frustration among some residents in the Thung Khang area.

According to the records provided by the Quy Hop District Land Acquisition and Compensation Council, on July 20, 1993, Quy Hop Forestry signed Contract No. 04 to contract for protection, care, and harvesting of rubber and coffee in the new economic zone of Sub-zone 289 to Mr. Ngo Sy Toan (worker position). The contract has a term of 10 years. The terms of the contract clearly state that "In case the state management agency takes land or forest for other purposes, A and B will meet to resolve the consequences to terminate the contract".

When carrying out the site clearance work, the People's Committee of Quy Hop district requested Quy Hop Forestry to determine the origin of land use. On May 12, 2012, Quy Hop Forestry issued Official Letter No. 98/CV-LT in response. It clearly stated that the land area for the waste treatment project is managed by Quy Hop Forestry, and has been granted a Land Use Rights Certificate by the Provincial People's Committee; the assets on the land, regarding the teak trees, are directly managed by the forestry, with the tung and coffee trees planted by the forestry and currently still in the contract for protection, care, and harvesting of the forestry with Mr. Ngo Sy Toan, which was signed in 1999 (in 1999, at Mr. Toan's request, Quy Hop Forestry signed an additional contract appendix extending to 2010. There are complete archived records).

The area where the waste treatment project will be implemented (in Thung Khang and Tho Hop areas) has not yet been cleared.

With this information, the origin of land use has been clearly identified. The question is, why is Quy Hop district not determined in land acquisition and clearance, leading to the project being delayed, causing frustration among local people?

According to Mr. Quan Vi Giang - Deputy of Natural Resources and Environment Department, member of the Compensation Council of Quy Hop district, in the case of Mr. Ngo Sy Toan, the council has conducted a very careful inspection and review of the field and related documents. Currently, a plan has been developed to compensate for assets on the land; support for land and support for income difficulties due to the lack of production land with a total value of nearly 1.1 billion VND. This plan was made public in Tho Hop commune on November 14, 2016; and on November 16, 2016, it was personally delivered to Mr. Ngo Sy Toan.

Recently, Mr. Ngo Sy Toan continued to submit a petition with the content of disagreeing with the compensation and support plan; continuing to demand compensation according to agricultural land. After receiving the petition, on the one hand, the district leaders reviewed the documents for the last time, on the other hand, they prepared a plan to protect the construction. Mr. Quan Vi Giang said: "Quy Hop district saw that the compensation and support plan was guaranteed to be in accordance with regulations, so we are determined to implement it, not to let the waste treatment site construction project be delayed any longer...".

Ha Giang