Why are poor households not "interested" in support for building houses to avoid storms and floods?

(Baonghean) - At the end of 2014, Nghe An, along with 13 other coastal provinces, implemented a program to build storm and flood-proof houses for poor households according to Decision 48/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister. After nearly 1 year of implementation, many poor households have received support money from the State and borrowed capital from the Policy Bank to build houses. However, there are still poor households that have withdrawn because the support level is too low.

Ms. Tran Thi Hue, in Hamlet 2, Nam Cuong Commune (Nam Dan) is one of them. Her husband passed away, she is living with her father who is 80 years old this year and raising a child in grade 4, while being seriously ill and having to go to Hanoi for treatment every month. All living and medical expenses depend on 3 sao of rice fields, so her situation is very difficult. Therefore, although she really wants to build a flood-proof house, she still has to withdraw from the support list.

The old house of Tran Thi Hue and her children in hamlet 2, Nam Cuong commune (Nam Dan) is at risk of being unsafe during the flood season.

In Nam Cuong commune, in the list approved for construction according to Decision 48/2014, only 9/17 households built houses; most of the remaining households submitted applications to the commune to withdraw from receiving support due to difficult conditions.

In total, in Nam Dan district, there are 76 households approved to receive support under Decision 48. Of which, in phase 1, only 41/55 households in 4 communes of Nam Cuong, Nam Phuc, Nam Kim and Nam Trung built flood-proof houses; the rest are mostly too poor to mobilize additional capital to support and lend money to build houses.

The house of Hue and her father.

Faced with this situation, on November 11, 2015, the People's Committee of Nam Dan district sent a document to the chairmen of the People's Committees of the above 4 communes requesting direct direction of political and social organizations to organize and encourage and help families with working days, on-site materials... at the same time mobilizing businesses and philanthropists to create more resources to support funding to help families build houses.

In case households do not have the need to build houses and wish to withdraw from the list of supported subjects, "the People's Committees of communes shall compile the list and submit it to the District People's Committee for consideration and approval to adjust the list of supported subjects to replace the households requesting to withdraw from the list," the document clearly states.

Similarly, in Hung Lam commune, Hung Nguyen district, according to the district and commune review, there were 13 households eligible to receive support, but when implementing, only 9 households were eligible, the remaining 4 households requested to be withdrawn from the list for the same reason as the households in Nam Dan, of which 2 households submitted applications to the commune. Among them were the family of Mr. Cao Anh Tuan and Ms. Tran Thi Nguyet in hamlet 5.

Responding to the reason for refusing to receive support from the State, Ms. Nguyet said: "With the current level of support and loans totaling 27 million VND, it is very difficult for the family to build a flood-proof house."

Mr. Ho Sy Huong, Deputy Head of the Industry and Trade Department of the District People's Committee, said: "We have organized a delegation to the communes and directly visited the households to survey and there are 42 households in the communes of Hung Linh, Hung Long, Hung Xuan, Hung Lam, Hung Nhan, Hung Loi, Hung Chau that are eligible for the policy according to Decision 48/2014. However, by the end of October, according to the reports of the above communes, only 27/42 households have been able to implement it."

Application to withdraw from the support list of Ms. Tran Thi Hue, Hamlet 2 sent to Nam Cuong Commune People's Committee

The households eligible for support are poor households with very difficult economic conditions. While according to preliminary calculations of some households that have received support, the average cost of each house with a floor area of ​​40m2, including the floor area to avoid floods, is about 60 million VND. Therefore, with the relatively low level of support and loans, many poor households are unable to implement.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Tien, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Lam Commune (Hung Nguyen) said: "We should maintain the policy for households that do not have the conditions to build houses to avoid flooding this time; at the same time, increase the loan level of the Social Policy Bank to support poor households to be able to do so."

Decision 48/2014 on supporting the construction of flood-proof houses, with a roadmap for implementation in 3 years (from 2014 to 2016). Accordingly, the Provincial People's Committee has approved 1,010 households to be supported in 13 districts.

According to statistics from the Department of Construction, by mid-October 2015, the province had completed 380 houses, of which 305 were newly built and 75 were renovated, reaching 87.75% of the first phase of funding plan of 433 households.

Thus, to complete the project's objectives as well as ensure that poor households are approved, the above problems need to be resolved appropriately to ensure effective implementation of Decision 48/2014 and above all, poor households in storm and flood areas will feel more secure when having a new, sturdy house every rainy and stormy season.

Nhat Le