Tired of waiting for resettlement

A corner of the Hac Riverside Urban Area Project seen from above.

Thanh Cong residential area is located in the planning area of the Hac River New Urban Area Project invested by Dong A Real Estate Group Co., Ltd., approved by Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee in 2006. In 2009, the detailed planning adjustment at a scale of 1/500 was approved with a total planning land area of more than 37 hectares, including: Commercial residential land allocated to investors is 9.721 hectares; residential land divided into plots for resettlement, area of 4.595 hectares; apartment land, combined with commercial services, kindergartens for resettlement, low-income people and other policy subjects, area of 1.127 hectares... The project's objective is to improve the urban landscape environment along both banks of the Hac River; rebuild and build a complete urban area according to the approved planning. However, after nearly 20 years of implementation, the project has not yet completed site clearance, leaving hundreds of households "unable to leave or stay".

The house of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Cuc, 65 years old, is located in a small alley on Thanh Cong Street. Originally a worker for a construction company, her family moved here to live in the 1980s. The house has deteriorated over time.

“The houses are temporary and patched together, it’s so hard! And here, there are frequent floods. Every rainy and stormy season, the water is up to a meter high and it takes a week for the water to recede. From July 2025 until now, this residential area has been flooded three times, once the water was up to the waist, the furniture was soaked in water, and it was severely damaged,” Ms. Cuc said with a sigh.

For Ms. Le Thi Nhac's family, the house, which had already deteriorated over time, has now become even more damaged. This year's fierce storm caused part of the tiled roof and the front wall to collapse, forcing her to hire temporary workers to patch things up to protect her property. Like many households in the neighborhood, Ms. Nhac just hopes to soon escape the makeshift life in the heart of the city. And it seems that having gotten used to this makeshift life for many years, households in the neighborhood also pool money to build bamboo rafts to move to the main road, take their children to school or go to the market every time the water rises. Almost every family has to keep a pair of high boots on hand in case of sudden flooding. Flooding not only causes difficulties in daily life but also leads to power outages, water outages and environmental sanitation concerns in the residential area.

Mr. Ha Pham Duong's family - one of the households living in the lowest location in the residential area, has to struggle in a dilapidated level 4 house and often has to endure the stench coming from the sewage system right in front of their door.

Tired of waiting for resettlement

The houses on Thanh Cong Street have deteriorated, affecting people's lives.

Mr. Duong said with dismay: “It’s very polluted here. Sewage water accumulates in the empty land in front of the house. When it’s sunny, it stinks, when it rains, it floods, and wastewater is everywhere. Some families can’t stand it and have to lock their doors and go back to their hometowns or rent somewhere else. My family’s economy is difficult, so we have to stick with it. I just hope that if the project continues, the site clearance will be completed soon; and if it’s abandoned, the planning needs to be “removed” soon so that people can repair and upgrade their houses and the neighborhood can receive infrastructure investment. Waiting year after year like this is so tiring!”

It is known that the Hac River New Urban Area Project has a total land area to be recovered of more than 33 hectares, related to more than 1,000 households in the three wards of Dong Tho, Truong Thi and the old Nam Ngan. As of March 2025, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa City had previously carried out land clearance and compensation for over 22 hectares. The total area that has not been completed for land clearance and compensation is more than 9 hectares, including more than 7.5 hectares of residential land. One of the problems of the project is that in 2010, the total planned area for resettlement was adjusted to 5.72 hectares, of which 3.85 hectares is located on the current residential area (with about 300 households living). This is one of the main reasons for the delay in land clearance and compensation for project implementation. In addition, the project's implementation mechanism and policies were issued in 2010, and have lasted for many years. Many legal documents regulating land management are no longer suitable and have expired...

It is known that, regarding the implementation of the Hac River New Urban Area Project, at the end of October 2025, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Provincial Inspectorate to review the entire project, conduct inspections of uninspected contents, to conclude and point out limitations, shortcomings, difficulties, problems and shortcomings, violations, if any. On that basis, propose timely remedial and handling measures in accordance with the provisions of law, ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of people whose land is recovered.

Article and photos: Minh Hien

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/moi-mon-cho-tai-dinh-cu-269962.htm