Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Project: Listening to the people and "going to every alley, knocking on every door" (Part 1)

>>>Part 1: 50-day and night campaign of "listening to people, speaking for people to understand"

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Hundreds of houses built illegally on agricultural land, with complicated land origins, and no resettlement areas to accommodate people... have become major "bottlenecks" hindering the progress of site clearance for the project section through Bien Hoa city.

The Secretary of the City Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee of Bien Hoa City had a direct dialogue with each household that had not agreed to hand over the land on March 30. Photo: Hoang Loc

And these "bottlenecks" were untied through an unprecedented "going down to the people, listening to the people" campaign in the land acquisition and clearance work that lasted for 50 days and nights.

Special project in special time

The Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Project is one of the key national transport infrastructure projects being implemented in the province. The project has a total route length of nearly 54km, of which the section through Dong Nai is more than 34km long, passing through Bien Hoa city and Long Thanh district.

Of which, Bien Hoa city alone must reclaim more than 59 hectares of land from over 1,500 households and organizations to construct the more than 6km long section of the project.

“Through meetings and dialogues with the people, the authorities grasp the thoughts and aspirations of the people. From there, they make the most of mechanisms and policies to ensure the highest interests of the people while still strictly complying with the provisions of the law. When the government and the people find a common voice, the people are happy and agree to hand over the land,” said Bien Hoa City Party Secretary Ho Van Nam.

In April 2023, the land acquisition and site clearance work of the project was officially launched with a notice of land acquisition to households in the project area. According to the Government's request, by June 2023, the project site must be handed over at 70% to start the project. However, during the implementation process, this goal could not be completed. Not only that, with a series of difficulties and challenges, the site clearance work of the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Project, the section through Bien Hoa city, at times seemed impossible to reach the finish line.

By mid-February 2025, about 70% of the land area to be recovered for the project section through Bien Hoa city had just completed site clearance. However, most of this area is public land, river land, traffic land and land of organizations and enterprises. Meanwhile, the remaining 30% of the area is residential land of the people, becoming a major "bottleneck" for the site clearance sub-project through Bien Hoa city.

Working Group No. 1 of Bien Hoa City Party Committee propagates and mobilizes the family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Dung (residing in Huong Phuoc Hamlet, Phuoc Tan Ward) to hand over the land. Photo: HOANG LOC

According to the Provincial Land Fund Development Center, the unit assigned to carry out the project site clearance work through Bien Hoa city, in the project area, the section through Bien Hoa city has up to 800 cases of building houses on agricultural land. Of these, only 163 cases are considered for resettlement according to the law, the majority of the rest are building houses on other people's land.

"This is the biggest challenge in site clearance work" - Director of the Provincial Land Fund Development Center Mai Phong Phu said.

Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Secretary of Bien Hoa City Party Committee Ho Van Nam assessed that the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Project through the city almost "converged" all the challenges posed in site clearance work. On the other hand, since the beginning of 2025, the implementation of the arrangement and streamlining of the apparatus; arrangement of administrative units, and streamlining of staff has also caused many cadres, civil servants, and public employees performing site clearance work to waver.

“It can be said that the sub-project of land clearance for the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Project through Bien Hoa City is a “special project implemented at a special time” - Bien Hoa City Party Secretary Ho Van Nam shared.

"Sweet fruit" when listening to people's voices

With the reality that “there is no finish date” in the land acquisition and clearance of the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Project, on February 12, 2025, at a working session with the Standing Committee of the Bien Hoa City Party Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Vu Hong Van requested the city to complete the land acquisition and clearance in March 2025. In response to this urgent request, the Bien Hoa City Party Committee established 6 special working groups, led by members of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, to directly go to the grassroots to propagate and mobilize people to hand over the land.

Vice Chairman of Bien Hoa City People's Committee Nguyen Duy Tan (3rd from right) and a special working delegation of Bien Hoa City Party Committee discussed with households in Tam Phuoc ward. Photo: Hoang Loc

"There are families whose whole family has to work during the day, so the working groups have to wait until the evening, when people come home from work, to meet them," said Nguyen Phong An, Chairman of Bien Hoa City People's Committee.

The family of Mr. Tran Van Mong (owner of plot 203, map sheet 68, Phuoc Tan ward) is one of the households subject to complete clearance to implement the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Project. However, due to the family's serious illness and the fact that they have not found a place to stay, by the end of March 2025, Mr. Mong's family has not yet handed over the site to the construction unit.

On March 30, during a meeting with a special working group, given the circumstances of Mr. Mong's family, Bien Hoa City Party Secretary Ho Van Nam agreed to let his family sign the handover of the site first, but postponed the actual handover date to April 5. At the same time, he directed the People's Committee of Phuoc Tan Ward to send forces to assist in finding a place to live and moving assets for Mr. Mong's family. Nearly 2 weeks later, after finding a place to stay with the support of the authorities, Mr. Mong's family moved to a new place to hand over the site for project construction.

“With the support from the government, my family found a new place to stay close to the old place, so it was very convenient. Really, through meetings and dialogues, I feel that the government not only cares about public affairs, but also understands my family's personal circumstances,” said Mr. Tran Van Mong.

The family of Ms. Nguyen Thi Dung (residing in Huong Phuoc quarter, Phuoc Tan ward) is not eligible for resettlement because they built a house on agricultural land.

“At first, I did not agree to hand over the land because I felt disadvantaged. But after listening to the working group explain the policy clearly, I understood. Even though we were not resettled, being supported to buy social housing was also an encouragement for my family. That is why, on March 31, my family moved to hand over the land,” said Ms. Dung.

During the 50 days and nights of “going down to the people, listening to what the people say”, hundreds of meetings and dialogues between special working groups of the Bien Hoa City Party Committee and households in the project area were carried out. The “sweet fruit” of the unprecedented mass mobilization campaign in site clearance work was that by April 18, Bien Hoa City had completed the handover of the entire site of the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway Project with a very high consensus of the people.

Pham Tung - Hoang Loc

Lesson 2: Soft solutions to resolve "hot spots"

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/kinh-te/202505/du-an-duong-cao-toc-bien-hoa-vung-tau-lang-nghe-dan-va-di-tung-ngo-go-cua-tung-nha-bai-1-e6b178f/