HCM CITY — HCM City authorities are planning to revoke long-delayed projects that have affected thousands of owners of houses near the proposed areas.    

The Bình Quới-Thanh Đa urban area project and the Miếu Nổi residential project in Bình Thạnh District are among the longest delayed projects. 

The former has been delayed for more than 26 years, affecting more than 4,000 households, according to city authorities.

Speaking at a recent meeting, Trần Vĩnh Tuyến, vice chairman of HCM City People’s Committee, asked the Department of Planning and Investment to choose new investors with solid financial capacity and experience in implementing major projects.

The plan must include criteria for choosing an investor, including the amount of deposit needed for site clearance compensation and the guarantees from credit institutions.

Tuyến said the Department of Construction should consider giving licenses for temporary repairs of homes affected by the delayed projects.

In addition, Nguyễn Thành Phong, chairman of the city People’s Committee, has pledged to complete the Bình Quới-Thanh Đa project as soon as possible.

Though approved in 1992 by the city government, the project area remains deserted, affecting thousands of households that have not been able to renovate or sell their houses during the period.

The Miếu Nổi residential project, which started more than 20 years ago, remains incomplete.

The city has asked the project’s investor to cooperate with agencies, which will oversee any violation of the law, including tax obligations.

Bình Thạnh District has been told to require the investor to finish construction of public facilities such as parks and kindergartens and to ensure connections with the regional traffic system.

The investor of the Miếu Nổi project received the land in 1994. However, the site clearance work and compensation has yet to be completed. 

Vũ Ngọc Đức, 59, a resident of Thanh Đa Peninsula in Bình Thạnh District, told Việt Nam News that the city should divide the project into smaller components and seek investors for each to speed up the project.

Experts said that city authorities should work with agencies to review all projects behind schedule, assess the capability of investors, and take back land allocated to the projects, if necessary.

Nguyễn Toàn Thắng, director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said the city was implementing recommendations from the People’s Council on land management.

The city People’s Committee has identified 547 projects with licenses that should be revoked because of delayed implementation, he said.

Of more than 2,800 licensed projects, the city is considering revoking 180 licenses, he added.

Thắng attributed the cause of the delayed projects to lack of agreement between house owners and investors on the compensation price.

Delays

As part of the city’s urban planning, each district every five years proposes plans or adjustments to projects in their areas.

A number of districts in the city most affected by urban planning, including Bình Thạnh District, District 10 and Thủ Đức, Tân Bình and Tân Phú districts, have urged the city to agree to adjusting many of their original plans.  

The districts’ original plans included construction of new roads, widening of existing roads, and demolishing of houses to make way for parks and other public facilities.

With such long delays, caused mostly by a lack of city funds, all districts have asked the city to abolish or adjust the plans, a few of which go back as early as 1980. 

The city has agreed to all of the districts’ proposals to either abolish or adjust the original plans, and plans to offer favourable policies to residents who have been affected.

Ngô Văn Dũng of Tân Bình District’s Urban Management Department said that many plans in the district had been delayed for a decade or more.

Because of the costs and low profits of such projects, the district has not been able to call for investment for some of the projects and has proposed abolishing the original plan.    

Previously, Tân Bình District had proposed that 21 areas should be included in the city’s urban planning, but the People’s Committee rejected nine of them, with the remaining areas to be used for residential land only.  

Nguyễn Ngọc Anh, deputy manager of District 10’s Urban Management Department, said the district in the last seven years had proposed eight plans, including building a number of roads in the middle of densely populated residential areas.

Since this would require huge capital for site clearance and compensation to residents, the district has asked the city to abandon the plan.    

Nguyễn Thanh Toàn, deputy director of the city’s Department of Planning and Architecture, said the department would ask the Government to create special policies and incentives for residents living in the areas affected by plans that had been delayed or suspended for 10 to 20 years. 

Thủ Thiêm dispute

In a related matter, regarding the Thủ Thiêm new urban area project, the secretary of the municipal Party Committee, Nguyễn Thiện Nhân, cited the conclusion of the Government Inspectorate that 4.3 hectares of the reclaimed land area in the area were not included in the original planning for the project.

Nhân said the city had made a mistake in forcing households who lived on this land to move.

Nhân, who spoke at the 12th session of the city People’s Council held recently, proposed that the  households who had been forced to move should live in resettlement areas while waiting for the city’s final solutions about the Thủ Thiêm dispute.

He said that these families should not attempt to move back to the original land where their former houses, which were demolished, once stood. To do so would be illegal, he said.    

He noted that the city authorities had held three meetings with the former leaders of the People’s Committee to clarify issues related to the project, which was approved by the Prime Minister in 1996. 

Nhân pledged that the city would resolve all wrongdoings and identify the responsibilities of the relevant parties. — VNS