District 12 uses effective policy to accelerate construction project

20 years ago on November 15, 2002, the HCMC People’s Committee released Decision No.4714/QD-UB to start a construction project of a resettlement area, covering 38ha in Tan Thoi Nhat Ward of District 12. This was supposed to accommodate 778 households affected by Truong Chinh Street expansion project and other building projects, including 474 cases of complete residential land and house clearance and 282 cases of complete agricultural land clearance.

In March 2010, the People’s Committee of HCMC issued another Decision to assign the Management Board of Construction and Investment Projects in District 12 as the investor of this project. however, for a long time, the land clearance and resettlement tasks saw various obstacles, and the cleared land lots were left abandoned or became illegal waste disposal points, which were extremely polluted.

“As the project has been going on for over 20 years, the land compensation is too outdated compared to the buying price of a resettlement land lot, leading to annoyance and frustration of affected families. What is more, some households having handed over their lot in 2005 but have not received any substitute until now, and therefore have experienced much trouble”, said Vice Chairman of Tan Thoi Nhat Ward People’s Committee Nguyen Hoang Hung.

The stagnation of this project has attracted much attention of both residents and the leaders of HCMC. Obviously, to protect the right of the households whose land lots must be retrieved, the outdated policies on land compensation cannot be used now. Hence, the district leaders have patiently asked for solutions to address this problem via a flexible policy.

For instance, the former policy stipulates that the supporting aid for temporary accommodation for each household is VND4 million a month (US$165.3), whereas the flexible policy would provide VND6 million a month ($248) for a household of 4 members. The first only allows residents of District 12 to register for resettlement land lots, but the second greenlights any families whose land lots are retrieved by the project.

More importantly, if the land compensation rate of 2003 is applied now, involved people will suffer severe disadvantages. The rate at that time was only VND1.8 million/m² ($74.3), while the current market price for a lot in the area is VND70-80 million ($2,890-3,303).

In the case of agricultural land, after receiving the resettlement lot as regulated, the area exceeding the limit will be exchanged for 10 percent of the residential land lot. District 12 also proposed that HCMC deliver one additional resettlement lot for each of the 10 households handing over a large surface area.

Thanks to the sensible policies above, local dwellers have supported the district and happily moved out for the construction project to be carried out with no objection. Until now, 778 cases have been solved, retrieving an area of 370,940m². 254 out of 335 resettlement land lots have their owners identified. Some families have built their new house and are enjoying a more stable life now.

Le Phung Thuan, for example, has constructed two houses on Tan Thoi Nhat 1B Street on the lots he was given. He recalled that at first, he felt the land compensation policy was unfair and illogical, so his family did not follow it. Later on, because the new flexible policy is more sensible, his family willingly handed over the concerned land lot and received the resettlement one as well as the compensation amount for the property on the old land. He is even more eager now that additional public facilities like primary and secondary schools and new roads are being built to serve local residents here.