Handling existing problems in urban areas along Vinh River: What needs to be done immediately!
Having seen the document of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee evaluating 5 urban area projects in the area, I am not surprised by the existing problems mentioned therein, but I am surprised by the way this local government is working towards eliminating the existing problems in urban areas...
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Nhat Lan • September 9, 2024
The document we are referring to is Notice No. 129/TB-UBND dated August 5, 2024, conveying the conclusion of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thanh - Chairman of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee at the meeting with investors of 5 projects: Vinh Tan New Urban Area, Vinh Tan Ecological Urban Area, Long Chau Urban Area, Cua Tien New Urban Area, Vinh Tan Ward Residential Area. Notice No. 129/TB-UBND was sent to many agencies and units of Vinh city. Here, Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee pointed out the shortcomings in 5 urban area projects, set out a specific time frame requiring investors to be responsible for resolving them, and at the same time, reported and recommended that superior agencies intervene according to their authority.
For example, the Vinh Tan New Urban Area project (invested by TECCO Group Corporation, Nghe An Branch) clearly shows that there are still CT2 apartments and 63/305 land lots that have not been invested in construction. The traffic system and drainage ditches have degraded and damaged; low-voltage power lines (TECCO lines No. 14, No. 12...) are temporarily attached to lighting poles; infrastructure construction documents are lost. Some construction works have incorrect basic design, incorrect planning, and even incorrect usage purposes (warehouses, restaurants, coffee shops...) causing noise pollution, affecting the lives of the main households in the urban area.
In the urban area, a number of spontaneous waste dumping sites have been formed, causing environmental pollution and affecting urban aesthetics; there has been a situation of stopping and parking vehicles on the roadway, in the opposite direction, at the location of water intake for fire prevention and fighting; heavy trucks and container trucks frequently enter and exit, affecting traffic safety and fire prevention and fighting work. On the other hand, the investor has not completed the handover of apartment maintenance fees to the Management Boards (Tan Phat, Tan Binh apartments...); lack of coordination and information on the situation of population management leads to the collection and payment of non-agricultural land use tax being left open, causing tax losses...
In the Cua Tien Urban Area project invested by Danatol Joint Stock Company, there are also many shortcomings listed. That is the apartment building - area 2 and up to 207/600 adjacent houses have not been built yet. This project has not completed the investment in infrastructure construction of the resettlement area; the construction progress of Ho Huu Nhan road and related infrastructure items is still very slow, leading to the impact on the site clearance work for 39 households south of Cua Tien bridge.
Also at the Cua Tien Urban Area project, there is still a situation of construction that is not in accordance with planning and basic design, and there are cases where some households encroach on open space, affecting the aesthetics, fire prevention, fire fighting, and urban civilization. In addition, the investor has not paid attention to coordination and information on tax payment for non-agricultural land use.
The Long Chau Urban Area Project (investor is Lung Lo 2.1 Joint Stock Company) and Vinh Tan Ecological Urban Area Project (investor is Handico Vinh Tan Company). The shortcomings were also pointed out. For example, in the Long Chau Urban Area Project, there is an 18-storey apartment building, 38 lots/157 lots of townhouses, a cultural house and a project management office that have not been invested in construction; there is a situation where construction works are not in accordance with the basic design; and a number of spontaneous waste dumping sites are forming, causing environmental pollution.
Meanwhile, Vinh Tan Ecological Urban Area Project has not yet completed site clearance of about 14,000m2.2Land belonging to Tan Phuong block and 3 households at the end of Luc Nien street; determination of administrative boundaries between Vinh Tan ward and Trung Do ward within the project scope is unclear, affecting State management; in the urban area, there are a number of security and order issues such as the situation of young people gathering to race; theft, car break-ins...
Since around 2008, when Vinh city was recognized as a type I urban area, there have been many urban area projects implemented in Vinh city, but until now, it is very difficult to find a project that is truly urban. There have even been many projects that have not fulfilled their commitments, have been transformed, and the rights of households living in the project have been affected, and the urban space of the city has also been affected. Therefore, the information that exists in the urban areas of Vinh Tan ward is not surprising. What surprised us is that the review, inspection, and evaluation of urban area projects are often carried out by a number of departments and interdisciplinary delegations at the provincial or city level; on the other hand, the urban project investors have many relationships, so the ward and commune authorities cannot help but be cautious, considering the urban project area as a "sensitive" matter. Therefore, we contacted the Chairman of the People's Committee of Nguyen Dinh Thanh ward. Over the phone, he said: "You will understand when you go to the grassroots level...".
To clarify the shortcomings, we then visited the mentioned urban areas. And what we observed was indeed correct. The most critical, perhaps, was the Vinh Tan New Urban Area. This urban area has become the "core" area of the ward, but it is rare to find a street that meets the criteria of green - clean - beautiful - civilized, because most of them are very messy, chaotic, and filthy. Many traffic routes have degraded to the point of breaking, peeling off the asphalt surface; the sidewalk system is available in some places, not in others, high and low, using surface paving materials haphazardly and lacking uniformity; while residential houses are arbitrarily designed and built, public spaces are arbitrarily used, and there is a situation of indiscriminate waste disposal causing environmental pollution.
Stopping by Vinh Tan ward headquarters to tell what we saw to the Chairman of the Ward People's Committee Nguyen Dinh Thanh, he invited us to go on a field trip, because "in urban areas there are problems that cannot be seen just by observing..." And then at Vinh Tan Ecological Urban Area, we learned about the cultural houses that had been built, however, the yard space was too narrow, not up to standard, lacking cultural institutions... "assessed" by the Chairman of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee as "not ensuring functionality". Or like the ward cemetery, under the responsibility of the investor of Vinh Tan Ecological Urban Area to build, hand over to the government for management. However, after many discussions and reminders, the entrance gate system was only completed, a part of the fence was still not built, leading to a situation where people "parachuted" to illegally build mausoleums, causing many difficulties in management work...
Cua Tien Urban Area is a project with many mixed and shabby streets. But here we were taken to a residential area of 39 households on the banks of the Vinh River, along Ho Huu Nhan Street. The reason is because "39 households have had to live in a suspended planning area for more than 20 years". Visiting a household, the head of the household, Mr. Nguyen Van Cu (81 years old), said, "whether to move people or let them stay, we should be decisive, don't hesitate forever". When asked, we learned that the investor of the Cua Tien Urban Area Project is responsible for building a resettlement area for the city to resettle 39 households, and carry out land acquisition to serve the project of improving and upgrading the Vinh River.
We are urging investors to urgently build resettlement areas, and on the other hand, recommending the city to speed up the site clearance process so that people can have stable housing and not have to prolong their lives in the planning area...
Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thanh - Chairman of Vinh Tan Ward People's Committee
After a few hours of practice, we clearly stated our feelings when accessing Notice No. 129/TB-UBND dated August 5, 2024. Chairman of the Ward People's Committee Nguyen Dinh Thanh discussed: "Vinh Tan Ward knows and performs its tasks in accordance with its authority. The reason for implementing this content is first of all from the grassroots reality and from participating in coordination with functional forces, clearly seeing the existing problems in urban areas. In addition, voters and people often have recommendations, and this is the content that the Party Committee and the Ward People's Council are very interested in, identifying it as one of the key tasks to urge and request focused handling every month and quarter. Therefore, we think it is time to look straight and speak the truth to solve the problem. In the notice, pointing out the existing problems is for the investor to fulfill his/her responsibilities; on the other hand, it is for the superiors to clearly understand and promptly take measures to handle it...".
At the Vinh Tan Ward Party Committee Office, there are many documents and papers issued by the Party Executive Committee with related content. The most recent is Resolution No. 113-NQ/DU dated June 25, 2024 on "assessing the results of implementing tasks in June 2024 and deploying key tasks in July 2024". The limitation section clearly states that "hot spots on environmental sanitation are still recurring, the resolution of existing problems and limitations in land management, urban order, and construction order according to the Party Committee's Conclusion Notices has not been completed; the management, inspection, and supervision of fire prevention, fighting, and urban order in new urban areas still have limitations that need to be overcome...". One of the requirements set by the Party Executive Committee for the Ward People's Committee and its affiliated forces is to "focus on urging investors to complete the construction of project items that have been handed over land and handle existing problems".
Vinh Tan Ward Party Secretary Nguyen Trung Dung discussed that in all urban areas, people have lived and established residential blocks. However, the project is not yet complete, the infrastructure is not yet synchronized, so the investor is directly managing and taking responsibility according to the provisions of the law. Due to the long investment time, limited management responsibility, degraded infrastructure, poor environmental sanitation, etc., it has directly affected the people in the urban areas, and affected all socio-economic aspects of the ward and the city. Therefore, the Party Committee agreed to let the Ward People's Committee organize a meeting with the investors, thereby clarifying the existing problems, urging them to handle them, and at the same time, having a basis to report to the superior agency.
Within the authority of the ward level unit, this is indeed a difficult task. However, it is something that cannot be avoided…”.
Mr. Nguyen Trung Dung - Secretary of Vinh Tan Ward Party Committee
Curious to know what the investor thinks about Notice No. 129/TB-UBND dated August 5, 2024, we contacted the representative of the investor of Vinh Tan Ecological Urban Area Project. Mr. Nguyen Van An - General Director of Handico Vinh Tan Urban Development Investment Joint Stock Company said: “In my opinion, it is very good. Because Vinh Tan ward is close to the base, clearly understands the existing problems to point out to the investor to fix. For example, the problems in the cemetery area, the ward only mentioned it when we knew. We have installed the entrance gate, and will report to the Board of Directors of the company to complete the remaining fence section…”.
On September 3, 2024, Nghe An electronic newspaper published an article "The Southern Ward of Vinh City pointed out the existence of 5 urban area projects, requiring investors to handle them thoroughly". A few days later, we presented to Vinh City Party Secretary Phan Duc Dong our thoughts on Vinh Tan Ward's approach. Vinh City Party Secretary Phan Duc Dong commented, "It is very good that the Vinh Tan Ward Party Committee and government have done so." And said: "The city needs to promptly have information like this to request investors to fulfill their responsibilities...".
