Frustration in Khe Mu resettlement area

Resettlement project has lasted for 14 years but has not been occupied yet

The project to build Khe Mu resettlement area, Thanh Thuy commune, Thanh Chuong district ( Nghe An province) was approved by the People's Committee of Nghe An province in 2009. The project is invested by Nghe An Rural Development Department with a capital of nearly 80 billion VND. The goal of the project is to help more than 100 fishing households living on Lam river stabilize their lives and reduce poverty.

After many years of being unfinished due to lack of capital, in 2020, this project continued to be allocated an additional 5 billion VND to complete the cultural house, roads, and electricity. The project investor said that in 2022, the project's infrastructure was completed, but to date, no residents have moved into this resettlement area. The two completed cultural houses have become grazing grounds for local people, and the surrounding trees are overgrown and look very miserable.

2(1).jpg — Khe Mu resettlement area has been inhabited for 14 years now.

Mr. Nguyen Van Ha, a local resident, said: “The project has reclaimed hundreds of hectares of land from the people for many years but the construction was unfinished and then abandoned. People saw the abandoned land as a waste, so some people used it to plant acacia trees. Two cultural houses of two residential areas were completed many years ago, but people left them abandoned, causing cattle to defecate. Recently, the investor continued to complete the construction and then closed the doors. The houses are not in use so they have signs of deterioration, it looks very pitiful.”

Recently, according to a report by the People's Committee of Thanh Thuy commune, after checking, 8 households have re-encroached on the land of this resettlement area project to plant acacia. The commune government has asked the households to stop encroaching and return the land to the project.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thanh - Vice Chairman of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee, said: The investor announced that the project has basically completed the infrastructure items. However, the production land of the people that was planned before has not been distributed to the people, so the district has not dared to accept the handover for fear of "leaving the child in the lurch".

1(3).jpg — The infrastructure was abandoned and shows signs of deterioration.

According to Mr. Thanh, dividing the land for production to the people will take a lot of time and money to measure, but it is not known where to get the source. "In the near future, the investor and the district will meet to find a solution" - Mr. Thanh said.

Mr. Le Van Luong - Head of Nghe An Rural Development Department, said: The project has completed the construction of infrastructure items according to the approved design and has been approved by departments and branches for handover to the locality. Currently, the Department is coordinating with Thanh Chuong District People's Committee to complete the procedures for handover and put into use. In 2020, Thanh Chuong District People's Committee reviewed and identified 105 households without land or legal housing that are eligible for resettlement in Khe Mu resettlement area. However, up to this point, no households have been able to move in.

People "wait with long necks"

More than 10 years have passed, more than 100 fishing households in Vo Liet and Thanh Chi communes (Thanh Chuong district) have been looking forward to moving ashore to resettlement areas, but because the resettlement areas have taken too long to build, many families have had to move ashore to build temporary houses near the riverbank to take shelter. After decades of drifting on the river, Mr. Nguyen Viet Minh (born in 1951) and his wife could not live forever on the old boat, so they had to move ashore to build a temporary house on the banks of Lam River to take shelter. The couple's 4 children have started families, cannot live here, and have had to go elsewhere.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Minh said sadly: “My wife and I are old now, we can’t fish on the river so life is even more difficult. We’ve been waiting for the resettlement area for too long, we’re so tired, we heard the project was finished but I don’t understand why we still haven’t arrived yet.”

3(1).jpg — Hundreds of fishing households in Thanh Chuong district still live adrift on Lam River, not knowing when they will have a place to "settle down".

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Ha (born in 1966) has 3 sons, 2 of whom are married. For many years, the mother and children, grandmother and grandchildren have had to live in a temporary house along the riverbank. Mrs. Ha has registered to move to the resettlement area and has been approved by the government, but until now she still does not know when she will receive land to build a house.

Another resident also said that for over 10 years, the local government has organized for people to visit Khe Mu resettlement area. People saw that the land was quite large, the asphalt road went all the way to the place, the infrastructure was quite good, so they had high hopes, but year after year, the dream of "settling down" of the people still has not come true.

Meanwhile, the Triều Dương resettlement area (a component of this resettlement project) which was completed in 2015 has not yet met the expectations of the fishing villagers. The local government also said that by 2019, 43 households had received land in this resettlement area. However, after receiving the land, many families could not live on their own due to the lack of land for production and lack of jobs, so they had to go far away to work. Currently, there are only about 20 households living in this area. Due to the small population, the cultural house and school are abandoned.

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