Prevent illegal construction of houses encroaching on Vach Bac canal

On duty all night to prevent

This move came after many households took advantage of the time when the commune was preparing for the merger to build illegal houses. There are currently 200 illegal houses on this canal, not to mention 10 houses that are being completed.

The Vach Bac drainage canal was built in 1976, more than 20km long, connecting Yen Thanh district, flowing down to Lach Van (Dien Chau district) and then pouring into the sea. This canal has the function of draining floods for the communes in the Northwest of Yen Thanh and more than 12,000 hectares of agricultural land in the two districts of Dien Chau and Yen Thanh.

Vach Bac Canal section through Do Thanh commune. Photo: Tien Hung

Normally, this canal does not have a large amount of water. The canal only becomes fierce during the rainy season, when it has to drain a large amount of water from upstream. To protect the dike corridor and the canal bed, after construction, the government and the management and exploitation unit, Bac Nghe An Irrigation Company Limited, have coordinated to commit to not allowing people to build houses in the canal protection area.

However, because the road running next to the canal is an inter-commune road, connecting from National Highway 1A and then running through Do Thanh commune, connecting with many communes of Yen Thanh district with favorable locations for trading, some people want to turn this strip of land into residential and commercial land.

The leaders of Do Thanh commune said that the illegal construction of houses started in the 1990s, when some households in the commune spontaneously set up shacks on the land along this canal to sell soft drinks, repair bicycles, etc. Records kept at Bac Nghe An Irrigation Company Limited also show that since 1992, this company has sent documents to the People's Committee of Do Thanh commune and Yen Thanh district to respond to the illegal construction of households on the corridor and inside the Vach Bac canal and requested the local authorities to urgently intervene and rectify the situation.

A house has just had its foundation poured by the canal. Photo: Tien Hung

However, instead of preventing it, the People's Committee of Do Thanh commune later publicly sold some land areas in the protection corridor and inside the canal to the people in the commune. Since then, the story of illegal construction of houses on the land protecting the Vach Bac canal in this commune has become complicated. Bac Nghe An Irrigation Company Limited has repeatedly "called for help" from the district and province to intervene. The commune, district and People's Committee of Nghe An province have organized many meetings to handle the situation, but solid and spacious houses continue to spring up.

In 2020, the People's Committee of Do Thanh commune reported to the district to develop a plan to enforce the demolition of 13 houses that had just been illegally built on the roof of Vach Bac canal. Before organizing the enforcement, the commune mobilized these households to voluntarily dismantle the construction. However, the enforcement was unsuccessful. A leader of Do Thanh commune said that the main purpose of enforcing these illegal houses was to deter and prevent others who were intending to build illegally, however, due to difficulties in arranging enforcement forces, it had to stop.

Recently, house construction has been taking place at a rapid pace. Photo: Tien Hung

Build a house quickly

Mr. Luyen Xuan Hue - Chairman of the People's Committee of Do Thanh commune said that the most difficult thing in preventing people from illegally building houses on the roof and bed of Vach Bac canal is that the commune has "accidentally" sold land to many people in the past. This strip of land located next to the canal, along the inter-commune road, has a very favorable location for trading, so it is very difficult to prevent.

“They build at night, very quickly. They only need to take advantage of a few days off to finish the foundation and then they are a little negligent and they finish the house,” Mr. Hue said, adding that up to now, along the banks of this canal, there are about 200 households that have built illegal houses, many of which are solid houses, so handling them is extremely difficult. These houses all have frontage facing the inter-commune road, behind them is the Vach Bac canal.

Mr. Hue also said that recently, taking advantage of the time of commune merger and the end of the commune leadership term, illegal construction continued. Through inspection, the commune government recorded that more than 10 houses had completed the foundation on the roof and the Vach Bac canal area and were ready to be completed in the blink of an eye.

A piece of land has just been leveled to prepare for building a house. Photo: Tien Hung

“This is the land that the canal management unit previously assigned to a local resident to manage to plant acacia trees and protect the canal. However, many houses have suddenly sprung up on this area and many other houses have completed their foundations” - a resident who has built a house in this area said, this land was bought from a person in the commune, for 500 million VND.

“Land in the commune is very expensive. I got married and moved out, my family couldn’t afford to buy land, so we had to buy this plot of land and build a house. Even though we knew it was illegal, if we didn’t do it, we wouldn’t know where to live,” this person said. To prevent people from building illegal houses, over the past month, the Do Thanh commune government has set up two teams consisting of police and commune officials, commanded by two commune vice chairmen.

In 2017, the People's Committee of Nghe An province assigned the People's Committee of Yen Thanh district and Do Thanh commune to establish a resettlement area plan to relocate hundreds of illegal houses on this drainage canal. However, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Do Thanh commune said that up to now, this relocation is still on paper because there is no funding to implement it and it is difficult to determine the legality of whether these households are eligible for compensation for relocation or not.

Recently, when clearing land for the North-South Expressway, 8 households illegally built houses on the canal corridor were still compensated at 12.5 million VND/ ^m2 and supported with assets on the land. This sets a precedent that is very difficult for the government in the future when clearing land because people will compare compensation prices.

Preventing it is difficult, relocating hundreds of these households is even more difficult, when the land fund of this commune is quite limited while the commune has more than 18,000 people. Built in a "lightning fast" condition, many houses are now degraded.

“The commune must take responsibility for allowing people to build new or repair or expand. But not allowing people to repair is also very dangerous because it is unsafe. Any road is difficult,” Mr. Hue sighed./.

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Source: https://baonghean.vn/ngan-chan-tinh-trang-xay-nha-trai-phep-lan-chiem-kenh-vach-bac-10298032.html