Information that the Standing Committee of Cua Lo Town Party Committee directed the Town People's Committee to establish a Working Group to review land acquisition and resettlement arrangements in the area was published by Nghe An Newspaper on November 15, 2023 in the article "From a series of articles on the incident on Highway 21: Cua Lo Town reviews land acquisition and resettlement".
Previously, based on verified information, Nghe An Newspaper published the articles "Signs of violations within the planning scope of Road 21, Cua Lo town" (October 26, 2023); "The intricacy in land recovery within the planning scope of Road 21, Cua Lo town" (November 2, 2023). The content of these two articles reflects the illegal acts of the People's Committee of Cua Lo town and a number of departments, functional offices, and related units in the recovery and compensation for land plot No. 408, map sheet No. 13, Nghi Hoa ward, with an area of 151.6 m2, then, hand over to the subject whose land is recovered 2 resettlement plots along planned road No. 21 with a total area of 410m22.
To clarify the information reported by the newspaper, the Standing Committee of the Cua Lo Town Party Committee requested the Town People's Committee to clarify and explain. On November 6, 2023, an extraordinary meeting to listen to the Town People's Committee's report and explanation was organized by the Standing Committee of the Cua Lo Town Party Committee. From this, it was determined that the process of the Town People's Committee implementing land acquisition and resettlement arrangements may have had errors and violations. Therefore, the Standing Committee of the Cua Lo Town Party Committee agreed in principle to review the implementation of land acquisition, site clearance, and resettlement in the town, from January 2020 to June 2023; at the same time, directed the Town People's Committee to establish a Working Group to carry out the review task, with the requirement to report the review results by November 20, 2023.
However, due to the lengthy review process, the Standing Committee of the Cua Lo Town Party Committee was only able to hold a meeting on December 6, 2023 to hear the results of the Working Group report. On December 7, 2023, the Cua Lo Town Party Committee issued a Notice of Conclusion of the Standing Committee of the Town Party Committee. The Notice of Conclusion shows that the Standing Committee of the Cua Lo Town Party Committee basically agrees with the review report of the Working Group, as well as proposes a solution to overcome land acquisition and resettlement in the town. However, the Standing Committee of the Cua Lo Town Party Committee directed the Town People's Committee and the Working Group to continue implementing a number of contents, specifically as follows:
“1. Regarding the report: It is necessary to specifically assess the current status of land plots and projects related to land acquisition and resettlement. Evaluate and clarify the advantages, disadvantages and causes of violations, and clearly indicate the responsibilities of groups and individuals related to violations in land acquisition and resettlement arrangements in the area.
2. About the solution:
- For land lots that are not allocated in accordance with the correct procedures, subjects, and areas: The Town People's Committee directs relevant collectives and individuals to focus on thoroughly remedying the situation by returning the illegal land to the State in accordance with regulations.
- For land plots that have not been fully and correctly calculated to ensure sufficient conditions for land allocation (infrastructure, area difference, etc.): The Inspection and Review Team is requested to coordinate with specialized agencies to advise the Town People's Committee to recover the remaining difference to ensure compliance with regulations and pay it to the State budget.
- Assign the Town People's Committee to urge relevant collectives and individuals to voluntarily correct violations before December 30, 2023 and report to the Standing Committee of the Town Party Committee (in case of failure to correct, report and recommend competent authorities to take measures in accordance with the provisions of law)".
To clarify the results of the review of land acquisition and resettlement arrangements, on December 8, 2023, Nghe An Newspaper reporters requested and were agreed to have a short discussion with Mr. Le Thanh Long - Standing Deputy Secretary of Cua Lo City Party Committee. Thereby, it is known that violations occurred not only within the planning scope of Highway 21 as Nghe An Newspaper reported, but also in a number of projects with dozens of land lots; violations in many areas such as planning, land acquisition, compensation unit prices, subjects of land allocation for resettlement, etc.
According to the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Cua Lo City Party Committee, due to the large volume of work, related to many fields; meanwhile, the number of members of the Working Group is limited; along with the review task, they must ensure the completion of professional work, so the review time must be extended. "The information that Nghe An Newspaper reflects is in one project, but according to the perception of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, there may be errors in other projects, so we have considered and decided to direct a large-scale review, with a deadline from January 2020 to June 2023. Through the review activities of the Working Group, this has been shown, and therefore the time has been extended..." - Mr. Le Thanh Long said.
Regarding the new direction for the Working Group (Point 1), according to Mr. Le Thanh Long, the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee requires the review work to ensure objectivity, honesty, accuracy, and must specifically indicate: Violations in which projects? Violations in which land lots? Violations in what contents? Which organizations and individuals have made mistakes?... From there, there is a basis for handling responsibilities and requiring remediation of consequences. "The review results report gives the quantity, but the overview is still general, not meeting the requirements, so the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee requires clarification, must be really detailed...", informed the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Cua Lo City Party Committee.
Regarding the remedial plan (Point 2), Mr. Le Thanh Long said that the viewpoint of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee is that through the review work, it has confirmed that there were violations in the land acquisition and resettlement arrangement work in a number of projects. Therefore, it is agreed to propose remedial plans, thereby requiring relevant organizations and individuals to be aware of their actions and voluntarily remedy the consequences. “This is a humane handling direction. However, the time to remedy the consequences is only limited to December 30, 2023. After December 30, 2023, the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee will report to the superiors and recommend that the competent authorities consider handling according to the provisions of law…”, Mr. Le Thanh Long, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Cua Lo City Party Committee, added.
