SGGPO
Agricultural land is scarce on Ly Son Island. To acquire land for growing onions and garlic – famous products nationwide – the people of Ly Son have had to cultivate it for generations to create a sustainable livelihood. Therefore, reclaiming the land for residential areas will disrupt the sustainable livelihoods of the people and harm the garlic farming industry in Ly Son.
In 2022, the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province issued a decision approving the investment plan for the Dong Rung residential area project in Ly Son island district, with an area of 204,252.5 m² and a total investment of over 662.6 billion VND, including over 554 billion VND for preliminary project implementation costs and nearly 108 billion VND for preliminary compensation, resettlement support, and land clearance costs.
The Dong Rung residential area comprises 148 houses located along the main road, including 328 terraced houses and 65 villa plots. This is the first residential project in Ly Son island district.
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The project area for the Dong Rung residential area is located in Ly Son island district, Quang Ngai province. |
In July 2022, the People's Committee of Quang Ngai province issued a Decision approving the preliminary assessment results regarding the capacity and experience of the investor applying to implement the Dong Rung Residential Area project.
According to this decision, only one investor registered to undertake the project: a consortium comprising Hop Nghia Investment Corporation, Tan Thai Binh Duong Urban Construction Development Investment Joint Stock Company, and Van Quynh Joint Stock Company. Hop Nghia Investment Corporation is the leading member of this consortium.
The operating period for the Dong Rung Residential Area investment project is 49 years, starting from the date of the decision to allocate and lease the land; the project implementation schedule is 5 years.
The People's Committee of Ly Son District has issued a notice to reclaim over 204,252.5 m² of land, including 178,270.4 m² of agricultural land belonging to 474 households, and the remainder being rural residential land (23 households, affected area 1,088.7 m² ), perennial crop land (1 household, affected area 1.7 m² ), and land managed by organizations (24,891.7 m² ).
However, when compensation and support were set according to the price framework regulated by the State, the people of Ly Son island district reacted, arguing that the price was too low, disproportionate to market prices, and negatively impacting their livelihoods.
Ms. Ngo Thi Tru (Dong An Vinh village, Ly Son district) said: “My house has 480m2 of land within the area subject to expropriation, and the compensation and other support price is only 500,000 VND/ m2 . I find it too cheap. My family only has that much land to grow onions and garlic, cultivating 3 onion crops and 1 garlic crop a year. Now that it's being expropriated, we have no land to grow.”
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Mr. Pham Huu Hien owns land within the land acquisition project area; however, the compensation offered is low compared to the actual value, so he refuses to hand over the land. |
Mr. Pham Huu Hien (Dong An Vinh village, Ly Son district) owns 1,100 square meters of land, but after the land is reclaimed, only 300 square meters remain. He said: “I agree with the district and provincial policies, but the compensation price is low compared to reality. Now people are offering to buy my land for more than 1.2 million VND/square meter, but I won't sell because if I sell it, what will I live on? On this land, after deducting expenses, each crop of onions and garlic yields a profit of 40 million VND per sao (approximately 1000 square meters ) .”
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In this area, growing onions and garlic is the main source of income for households on Ly Son Island. |
Ms. Pham Thi Huong, Chairwoman of the People's Committee of Ly Son Island District, said that after working with households in the Dong Rung residential area project, the people agreed in principle to the project, but they complained that the land price was low compared to the market price. The compensation price according to the State land price framework, along with support costs for people in the project area, is 500,000 VND/ m² , which is not commensurate with the cost, so the people did not agree to hand over their land.
Ms. Huong said: “Regarding the Dong Rung residential area project, the district is preparing a report to the province requesting a land price adjustment coefficient based on the actual situation in Ly Son. The compensation and other support are currently at 500,000 VND/ m² , but we need to adjust it to double that amount, up to 1-1.2 million VND, to match the people's request. Currently, the district's departments are studying the regulations and will then report to the Committee for approval.”
However, many argue that reclaiming a large area of agricultural land, much of which is used for garlic cultivation, risks leading to negative consequences. This is because agricultural land on Ly Son Island is scarce; acquiring this land for growing onions and garlic – a nationally renowned product – has required generations of hard work and effort from the people of Ly Son to create a sustainable livelihood. Therefore, reclaiming this land for residential development would disrupt the people's sustainable livelihoods and harm the garlic farming industry in Ly Son.
Furthermore, the development of residential areas, the subdivision of land for building townhouses and villas, etc., not only disrupts the landscape of Ly Son, a strategic outpost island, through "urbanization," but also risks overloading the local infrastructure, especially water resources and waste disposal.
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