City grapples with suspended projects

A suspended project in HCM City's Go Vap District. The municipal People's Council is continuing to search for solutions to the problem of suspended development projects in the city. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Son

HCM CITY(VNS) — Members of the HCM City People's Council at a meeting yesterday continued to search for solutions to the problem of suspended development projects that has negatively affected the lives of many city residents.

The director of the city's department of Natural Resources and Environment, Dao Anh Kiet, said the reason behind the suspension of many development projects was not a shortage of land for resettlement programmes. Rather, the main causes were delays in compensation and land clearance.

Council members at the meeting asked city authorities to propose measures to cope with the delays in site clearance.

The deputy chairman of HCM City People's Committee, Nguyen Huu Tin, said the city would re-consider the status of many suspended projects.

The projects to be maintained will be publicised in the media and the interests of residents in the places where these projects are located will be ensured.

Until the end of the year, city authorities said they would accelerate the implementation of projects in which investors have completed 100 per cent of the site-clearance compensation.

For projects that have had only 50 per cent of compensation paid, the city will create favourable conditions for investors if they follow a predetermined schedule to carry out the projects.

For projects in which the investors and affected residents cannot reach an agreement on the level of compensation, the city authority will transfer these projects to the Construction Department for the next steps under the current regulations, according to Tin.

In her concluding remarks, the chairwoman of HCM City People's Council, Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam, said the city authority would provide not only enough resettlement houses but also vocational training and jobs for families affected by the many development projects in the city.

She said the city would also try to improve the quality of the city's urban planning and re-consider whether to resume or end work on all the suspended development projects in the city.

Tam asked several Government agencies to resolve the issues facing the delayed projects in an effort to reduce the negative impact on local residents' living conditions.

Another council member, Le Hong Son, said he was concerned about the shortage of schools and classrooms in several districts, especially in new urban areas, export processing zones and industrial parks.

Tran Tri Dung, director of the city's Planning and Architecture Department, said the department must co-operate with the education sector to build schools.

Dung said construction of schools must fit the education sector's school development scheme and the population density in each district.

In reply to council member Tran Van Thien's question about the low quality of urban planning, Dung said there was a shortage of staff. The Planning and Architecture divisions at the district level have a total of 300 staffers, including 46 architects.

He said the city's Department of Planning and Architecture has worked with universities to train more staff in these fields. It has also cooperated with foreign agencies in further training for existing staffs. —VNS