The Standing Committee of the Dong Loc Commune Party Committee assigned the Commune People's Committee to propose to competent authorities to inspect and handle the Samurai Project.

Recommendation from Dong Loc commune

On July 6, 2025, the electronic publication baonghean.vn of Nghe An Newspaper, Radio and Television published the article "Silence at the Samurai Nghi Thach Project", the content focuses on reflecting on the existing problems on the project land of Samurai Company Limited in Nghi Thach commune, Nghi Loc district (old), now Dong Loc commune, Nghe An province.

Before the information of the article, the Standing Committee of the Dong Loc Commune Party Committee had a working session with the Commune People's Committee, then issued Conclusion Notice No. 08-TB/DU dated July 11, 2025 with the following content:

“The Samurai project was leased land by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 705/QD-UBND dated December 12, 2014; Land lease contract No. 81/HD-TD dated April 17, 2015 between the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (authorized by the Provincial People's Committee) and Samurai Company Limited, the land area for project implementation has an area of ​​15,525m²Currently, the project is still in progress.

The press agency has reported and recommended many problems, leading to land waste, affecting the aesthetics, creating consequences for people in the area and causing difficulties in management for local authorities, especially construction management and environmental sanitation. To strengthen land and construction management in the area, the Standing Party Committee assigned the Commune People's Committee to:

• Propose that the Provincial People's Committee direct relevant departments, branches and sectors to inspect, review and urge investors to speed up project implementation progress.
• Strengthening the management of construction activities in the project area to avoid illegal construction.

According to Vice Chairman of Dong Loc Commune People's Committee, Mr. Phung Ngoc Tu, after the Standing Party Committee gave instructions, the Commune People's Committee inspected the current status of the project, collected related documents..., and will soon have a report and recommendations to send to competent authorities; at the same time, respond to Nghe An Newspaper and Radio and Television according to regulations.

Mr. Phung Ngoc Tu also said that the project of Samurai Company Limited has been of interest to local voters and has been the subject of many petitions for many years. Meanwhile, the project has not yet completed all legal procedures, but there are signs that Samurai Company Limited has raised money through a capital contribution contract.

Households and individuals who have paid money to the company have the need to do business or rent out their business, so the problem of illegal construction has arisen. Therefore, immediately after the Dong Loc commune government officially started operating, it was determined that it was necessary to completely handle the existing problems in the project of Samurai Company Limited.

“The project land has been converted from production and business land to residential land. However, the investor has not completed the relevant procedures as prescribed, the project has been dragged on for many years, causing many consequences, leading to many opinions from voters. In recent years, the locality has reported many times to the Provincial People's Committee and related departments and branches. The project has also been inspected by a number of provincial delegations, but so far there has been no final conclusion. Therefore, the People's Committee of Dong Loc commune will soon have a report requesting competent authorities to consider and handle it thoroughly...", said Mr. Phung Ngoc Tu, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Dong Loc commune.

Project stuck in legal procedures

According to documents collected by reporters, on December 12, 2014, by Decision No. 705/QD-UBND, the Provincial People's Committee leased 15,525m2 to Samurai Company Limited.²Land in Nghi Thach commune, Nghi Loc district (old) for non-agricultural production and business purposes (construction of factory for manufacturing and assembling refrigeration and household appliances).

The land lease was then carried out through Land Lease Contract No. 81/HD-TD dated April 17, 2015 between the former Nghe An Department of Natural Resources and Environment (authorized by the Provincial People's Committee) and Samurai Company Limited. Article 1 of Contract No. 81/HD-TD clearly states the purpose of land use as "Construction of a factory for manufacturing and assembling refrigeration and household appliances"; while Article 3 stipulates "Land use on the leased land must be consistent with the land use purpose stated in Article 1 of this Contract".

However, on April 6, 2016, Samurai Company Limited submitted a request to the Provincial People's Committee to change the land use purpose from production and business land to residential land. In response to Samurai Company Limited's request, on April 12, 2016, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 2269/UBND.DC assigning the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (old) to preside over and coordinate with the Departments of Construction, Planning and Investment (old) and the People's Committee of Nghi Loc District (old) to review and give opinions.

To carry out the assigned tasks, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (old) consulted the above departments and the People's Committee of Nghi Loc district (old), then issued Document No. 2797/STNMT-QLDD dated May 30, 2016 on "Changing land use purpose to implement the project in Nghi Thach commune, Nghi Loc district" to the Provincial People's Committee.

The content of Document No. 2797/STNMT-QLDD shows that the departments and the People's Committee of Nghi Loc district (old) determined that the request of Samurai Company Limited to change the land use purpose from production and business land to residential land was appropriate; unanimously requested the People's Committee of Nghe An province to consider and agree in principle to allow Samurai Company Limited to change the land use purpose from production and business land to residential land in Nghi Thach commune, Nghi Loc district (old).

From here, the Project of Factory for manufacturing and assembling refrigeration and household appliances invested by Samurai Company Limited has changed the land use purpose from production and business land to residential land according to Decision No. 3755/QD-UBND dated June 1, 2016 of the Provincial People's Committee. On July 14, 2016, the Provincial People's Committee approved the detailed planning 1/500 to divide residential land plots in Nghi Thach commune - Nghi Loc district (old) in Decision No. 4422/QD-UBND.

However, by 2017, the project of Samurai Company Limited was in the group of slow-progressing investment projects inspected by the Interdisciplinary Delegation (according to Decision No. 1076/QD-UBND.DT dated March 21, 2017 of the Provincial People's Committee).

Through inspection, the Interdisciplinary Team commented:“The investor has not completed the relevant procedures and documents before implementing the residential land project according to the provisions of law, but currently the company has built a number of infrastructure items.”; and recommend the Provincial People's Committee:“… has a written criticism of Samurai Company Limited for converting land use purposes without having all procedures and approved documents and not having paid the land use conversion fee of the project as prescribed; at the same time, requiring the company to fulfill its financial obligations regarding land to the State from the date the Provincial People's Committee allowed the land lease to the present before being allowed to carry out the next procedures when preparing the dossier to convert the land use purpose of the residential land”.

The opinions and recommendations of the above-mentioned Interdisciplinary Delegation are the basis for the Decision No. 5937/QD-UBND on handling slow-progressing projects in the province on December 8, 2017, by the People's Committee of Nghe An province, to direct:“Assign the People's Committee of Nghi Loc district to inspect and handle land violations in accordance with the provisions of law; request the investor to fulfill financial obligations to the State before December 30, 2017. Report and advise on handling options, send to the Department of Planning and Investment before December 30, 2017 for consultation with the Provincial People's Committee”.

After this time, the People's Committee of Nghi Loc district (old) inspected and punished the violations of Samurai Company Limited; the investor also deposited investment funds... However, the legality of the land division project in Nghi Thach commune became a matter of concern and question.

Specifically, on August 24, 2020, by Document No. 5692/UBND-NN, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Planning and Investment (old) to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (old), the Department of Construction (old) to review the process and procedures for implementing the project of dividing residential land plots in Nghi Thach commune...

Samurai Company Limited was approved by the Provincial People's Committee to invest in the Residential Land Subdivision Project in Nghi Thach Commune, Nghi Loc District (old) in Decision No. 2425/QD.UBND dated June 7, 2017. Accordingly, the project has a land use area of ​​15,252m²; total investment capital of more than 27 billion VND, operating period of 40 years. The project includes 2 functional areas: Residential area with a total area of ​​10,178.76m2²(75 lots); commercial service area with an area of ​​564.08m²The remaining area is for traffic and drainage.