Progress is very slow, Muong Lat district is 'empty' of mixed resettlement households
On the afternoon of April 12, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province held a conference to review the implementation of the project to relocate and stabilize residents in areas at high risk of flash floods, landslides, and landslides in mountainous districts of the province in the period of 2021 - 2025.
Previously, in December 2021, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province approved a project with the goal of arranging and stabilizing 2,846 households in landslide-prone areas in 54 communes of 9 mountainous districts by 2025 in 3 forms: Interleaved resettlement for 1,122 households; Adjacent resettlement for 846 households/34 projects (DA) and concentrated resettlement for 878 households/17 DA. The total estimated cost of implementing the project is nearly 550 billion VND, of which direct support for households is nearly 160 billion VND, support for building infrastructure for adjacent resettlement areas is nearly 127 billion VND, and concentrated resettlement areas is more than 263 billion VND.
According to the report of the People's Committees of the districts, up to now, resettlement has been carried out for 131/1,122 households, specifically: Lang Chanh District 7/26 households; Ba Thuoc 33/141 households; Nhu Xuan 4/25 households; Quan Hoa 42/320 households; Thach Thanh 4/35 households; Quan Son 37/386 households; Nhu Thanh 2/24 households; Thuong Xuan 2/35 households; Muong Lat 0/130 households.
Up to now, 4 concentrated resettlement projects for 151 households have been completed. Along with that, 51 projects/1,724 households have been approved, of which, adjacent resettlement projects are 34 projects/846 households, concentrated resettlement projects are 17 projects/878 households. There are 17 projects/556 households that have been decided on investment policy, of which, adjacent resettlement projects are 11 projects/243 households, concentrated resettlement projects are 6 projects/313 households.
Up to now, over 70 billion VND has been allocated and disbursed for resettlement projects, of which the provincial budget is over 66 billion VND and the district budget is over 4 billion VND.
Explaining the reason why resettlement projects are slow to implement, with progress reaching more than 10%, leaders of the People's Committees of Muong Lat, Quan Son, Quan Hoa districts... said: Because households living in landslide areas have little land fund, limited economy, it is very difficult to buy resettlement land, almost only relying on support from the State.
Besides, mountainous districts have high hilly terrain, steep slopes, and are divided by many rivers and streams, so choosing a safe resettlement location is even more difficult when residential land is very limited.
Many places plan to build resettlement areas for households far from commune and district centers; infrastructure has not been built synchronously, traffic is difficult, terrain is complex, steep slopes, and large volumes of rocks lead to high costs for leveling the ground, transporting materials, and investing in resettlement area infrastructure.
Along with that, due to the high price of construction materials, in some districts (Muong Lat, Thuong Xuan) there are no earth quarries, sand quarries are very far away, must be taken from other localities, so the total investment in resettlement areas is large, causing difficulties in implementation. Some areas planned to build resettlement areas are located on residential land, production land of people, so compensation for site clearance must be paid, while the budget of mountainous districts is limited, not yet balanced funding for implementation.
According to the leaders of the Departments of Construction, Planning and Investment, and Finance, the reason for the very low rate of resettlement area construction is that some projects, when appraised, are not in accordance with land use planning; the districts have not specifically surveyed the area and scale of resettlement areas; households implementing interlaced resettlement have not proactively sought land funds to move, and the districts have not developed plans to move people or have plans to adjust the form of arrangement and stabilization of residents.
In implementing adjacent resettlement, many localities choose locations far from residential areas, leading to the need to invest in many items such as roads, electricity, water, infrastructure, etc., increasing the total investment of the project. Regarding infrastructure investment, although the Provincial People's Committee has requested localities to proactively review the investment scale, select technical solutions, and plans to arrange suitable residential areas based on the support level, during the appraisal process, localities have not closely directed the design consulting unit to implement.
If necessary, the entire project will be adjusted.
Mr. Ha Van Ca - Secretary of Muong Lat District Party Committee said: There are hills planned to build resettlement areas but when drilling to explore, only rocks are found. When digging 1.5m deep, a large amount of waste soil and rock is generated, which requires money to be spent to move. Along with that, when building on a steep slope, there must be embankments to prevent landslides, electricity, water... must be brought to the people, leading to many additional costs, increasing the total investment of the project.
In addition, Mr. Ca also said that the land fund for building resettlement areas in the area is very limited, all high mountains, so it is very difficult to plan. After admitting the shortcomings, Mr. Ca admitted that the district leaders have not yet connected well with the provincial departments and branches, have not been closely involved in the area, have not done a good job of propaganda and mobilizing people in landslide areas to move to new places, so up to now, no households have been relocated to resettlement areas.
Mr. Do Trong Hung - Secretary of Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee affirmed: In the 9 mountainous districts implementing the project, many districts are not determined, drastic, and thorough, leading to the fact that the rate of households receiving resettlement is very low, typically Muong Lat district. "Local leaders need to seriously evaluate and learn from experience. If necessary, members of the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee must go to each house to mobilize people to implement resettlement, the key is to ensure the safety of the people, even if a disaster like Sa Na happens every year, it will not affect them", the Secretary of Thanh Hoa Provincial Party Committee requested.
According to Mr. Do Trong Hung, to avoid the situation of resettlement area projects being over-funded, localities need to combine harmoniously on the basis of investment rates, integrate, make the most of projects and programs, and mobilize all social resources. Along with that, it is necessary to carefully consider the implementation location to see which type of resettlement is optimal, suitable, and safest. "When moving people to a new place, we need to calculate what they will produce there, what they will do for a living, and whether it will ensure a long-term livelihood. Therefore, the initial survey to choose the location for the resettlement area is very important because if it is in a place that is too remote, people will be far from their farming areas, far from the center, and they will not be able to do anything. Thus, they will have to rely on the State for support, and the goal of resettlement will also be difficult to achieve," said Mr. Hung.
Concluding the conference, Mr. Do Minh Tuan - Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee said: During 2 days of field work at resettlement areas in 3 districts of Ba Thuoc, Quan Hoa, Muong Lat, he found many shortcomings in the process of geological survey, selection of resettlement areas and project construction.
"In the field in 3 districts, I saw that there are still many locations that can be used as resettlement areas with costs that are certainly lower than those chosen by the district. For example, at the Suoi Long resettlement area in Tam Chung commune, if built, the cost of leveling alone would be 8 billion, the cost of electricity would be 5 billion, not to mention the cost of drawing water, and then having to build infrastructure, build embankments... it could cost nearly 100 billion VND. Listening to the report, I found it extremely unreasonable, because this resettlement area only aims to serve nearly 20 households, if invested like that, no budget can bear it. Immediately after that, I asked the leaders of Muong Lat district and the consulting unit to recalculate, if building a concentrated resettlement area is so expensive, we can combine and choose to put the above households in adjacent resettlement areas or mixed resettlement areas, that way it will cost much less", said Mr. Tuan.
The Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee said that he will give localities more than 1 month to review resettlement projects, review each household to have a specific and accurate summary figure, and report to the Provincial People's Committee no later than May 15. Based on the report, the province will hold a meeting and, if necessary, will adjust the entire project.
"The work is very urgent but the leadership and direction are still very limited and lack of close attention. In the report sent to the province, you guys just propose local recommendations, such as the conversion of land use purposes to build resettlement areas. Except for natural forest land that is not under the province's authority, if the remaining production forest land and rice land need to be converted, you guys just propose to the department, I will direct the fastest implementation, if there are any problems, I will take responsibility", the Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee affirmed.
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