HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội’s People’s Committee has been instructed to conduct a thorough review of a land dispute issues concerning the Hoàng Cầu-Voi Phục section of the planned expansion of the city’s Belt Road 1.

Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hoà Bình has asked authorities to submit a report to the Government by January.

The order was made after the Government Office received a number of complaints from resident Phạm Thị Ngà together with others living at 369 Đê La Thành St, Ô Chợ Dừa Ward, Đống Đa District, claiming the city’s land reclamation for its road project had unreasonably affected their homes and land.

Hà Nội has been asked to make public its plans for the land and issue a map of the boundaries for the road project, while handling complaints from residents to avoid prolonged disputes.

In October, authorities approved of the Hoàng Cầu-Voi Phục section as part of the Belt Road 1, which was first built in the French colonial era.

According to official documents, the Hoàng Cầu-Voi Phục section will have six lanes and run for more than 2km.

A combined 6,000sq.m of real estate to the south of Đê La Thành St between Hoàng Cầu St and Láng Hạ St – both of which intersect with the road – has been designated for parking lots and green space as part of the project, which means all houses and buildings along this busy section of the road will be pulled down.

Since 2017, when the first information regarding the Belt Road 1 expansion project surfaced, residents of the affected area on Đê La Thành St have staged protests and sent complaints to different levels of municipal and central Government agencies.

The Hoàng Cầu-Voi Phục project will cost VNĐ7.8 trillion (US$336 million), sourced mostly from the municipal budget, but three-quarters of the figure, VNĐ5.8 trillion, will be used to pay compensation for more the 2,300 households that will be forced to relocate.

The project was originally slated to start in the last quarter of this year but land clearance issues had pushed back the construction to the second quarter of 2019, according to vice chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, Nguyễn Thế Hùng. — VNS