HÀ NỘI — The Government Inspectorate has blamed the HCM City People’s Committee, the Ministry of Construction and the Government Office for shortcomings in submitting, evaluating and advising on resettlement areas in the Thủ Thiêm new urban area.

The Government Inspectorate’s conclusion announced late yesterday related to complaints made by residents of Thủ Thiêm in HCM City’s District 2 also showed that site clearance and resettlement compensation procedures may have been violated.

According to the inspectorate, Thủ Thiêm was designed to be a modern, sustainable urban area with regional scale and standards. However, during the process of implementing the project, the city’s People’s Committee and relevant departments had allowed wrongdoing to take place, prompting complaints from residents.

The inspectorate said that the Prime Minister’s Decision No 367 approving the master plan for the new urban area was competent and effective. However, the city’s People’s Committee, the Ministry of Construction (MoC) and the Government Office had allowed the plan to be extended by 10 hectares compared to the area assessed by the MoC. Some important files attached to both Thủ Thiêm and a 160ha resettlement area were reportedly missing.

Another document submitted by the city asking the Prime Minister to issue a decision to recover the entire area of land planned for Thủ Thiêm reportedly lacked exact boundaries and the location of the resettlement area.

The inspectors also found that the implementation of some projects inside the Thủ Thiêm new urban area lacked a legal basis.

The Government Inspectorate also pointed out that the process of compensation, site clearance and resettlement assistance had seen many violations, such as improper implementation of the 2003 Land Law, no plan for compensation and ground clearance and no plan to build a resettlement site prior to site clearance, resulting in complaints about compensation and support policies.

The municipal People’s Committee’s plans for the recovery and allocation of land for the construction of resettlement areas were found to be incompetent, violating regulations such as not having resettlement sites in place in accordance with the plan approved by the Prime Minister.

More seriously, the Government Inspectorate also pointed out that the People’s Committee had violated the law by formulating, submitting and approving a plan to revoke the 160ha of resettlement land approved by the Prime Minister.

As a consequence, the development of the area had been stalled by residents’ complaints.

The Government Inspectorate recommended the Prime Minister to instruct the MoC to take the lead by reviewing and guiding the city’s People’s Committee to complete a legal basis for planning of the Thủ Thiêm new urban area. The ministry was asked to handle organisations and individuals involved in the violations after evaluating the relevant paperwork.

The Government Inspectorate also asked the People’s Committee to clarify who was responsible for the shortcomings and violations stated in its conclusion.

The city needed to review and handle the organisations and individuals involved in the approval of planning and adjusting plans for land acquisition, compensation and resettlement, as well those charged with archiving records, documents and maps.

The city was asked to review each case, especially the households on an area of about 4.3 hectares outside the planning zone in District 2’s Bình An Ward to compensate, support and offer suitable resettlement support for the people.

More than 100 households in Thủ Thiêm have been complaining for years saying that their land was outside planning area approved by the Prime Minister in 1996 but had still been cleared. In a meeting with leaders of ministries, agencies and representatives of the HCM City People’s Committee on May 15, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc assigned the Government Inspectorate to review and clarify the content of complaints about land acquisition, compensation and resettlement support and propose measures to resolve any issues in accordance with the law. The results of inspection were asked to be made available before July 15. — VNS