On May 28, the People’s Committee of Hong Bang district (Hai Phong) announced that the district and the People’s Committee of Quan Toan ward had sent notices to eight steel production and trading enterprises regarding the relocation of their manufacturing facilities and warehouses from the inner-city area to improve the urban landscape as directed by the Hai Phong People’s Committee.
WHICH BUSINESSES ARE SUBJECT TO RELOCATION?
According to statistics from the Hong Bang district People’s Committee, there are eight steel production and trading enterprises in the area, managing and utilizing over 50 hectares of land that is subject to relocation. Of this, more than 36 hectares are in Quan Toan ward (Hong Bang district), and over 14.2 hectares are in An Hong commune (An Duong district). Besides the Vietnam-Korea Joint Venture Company, which trades in steel, the remaining enterprises are all engaged in steel manufacturing.
Of the seven steel manufacturing companies along the old National Highway 5, two are operating stably: Vietnam Steel Pipe Company Limited and VinaAusteel Steel Production Joint Venture Company (Vietnam-Australia Steel). Vietnam Steel Pipe Company Limited is using 33,268 square meters of land in Quan Toan ward for a steel pipe manufacturing plant, with a land use duration until the end of 2033. VinaAusteel is utilizing 55,767 square meters of land for offices, production workshops, and steel rolling warehouses, with a land use duration until 2025.
The remaining five steel manufacturing enterprises have ceased production and business activities. Some have had their land revoked, while others have transferred part of their assets on the land to other enterprises.
Specifically, the Joint Venture Company of Steel Mechanics and Construction Materials with Foreign Investment in VSC – POSCO is using 60,093 square meters of land for a 350,000-ton-per-year steel rolling line, with a land use duration until July 11, 2016. Since April 29, 2022, the Hai Phong People’s Committee has decided to revoke the land of this enterprise, and the company has dismantled and moved its assets, handing over the land to the Land Development Center under the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
SSE Steel Manufacturing Company is utilizing 43,895 square meters of land for a steel structure manufacturing plant, with a land use certificate granted in 2007 and a duration until August 2027. However, according to the Hong Bang district People’s Committee, the company’s workshops and warehouses on the land are closed and inactive.
Australia Steel Billet Company Limited (an enterprise in the SSE ecosystem) is managing and using a 72,842 square meter area (behind SSE’s workshop) to build a steel billet manufacturing plant, with a land use duration until October 2027. However, since the site clearance, the company has not implemented the project.
Hai Phong Steel Trading Joint Stock Company – HPS (Vietnam-Japan Steel) is using 43,355 square meters of land to construct the HPS steel rolling mill, with a land use duration until December 2032. However, the site only has workshops, warehouses, and yards, and the company has ceased operations here for many years.
Cuu Long Heavy Industry Joint Stock Company (Cuu Long Steel Joint Stock Company) is utilizing over 194,423 square meters of land, of which 142,173 square meters are in An Hong commune (An Duong district), and the remaining 52,250 square meters are in Quan Toan ward (Hong Bang district). The purpose of the land is to build a steel billet smelting plant and a steel plate rolling mill, with a land use duration until March 2043.
According to the Hong Bang district People’s Committee, Cuu Long Steel Joint Stock Company has transferred its assets attached to the leased land to Nguyen Minh Stainless Steel Company Limited, amounting to over 138,404 square meters. Cuu Long Steel only retains the use of over 47,508 square meters. Nguyen Minh Stainless Steel Company is exploiting and using the workshops and warehouses attached to the land but has not been leased the land by the Hai Phong People’s Committee as prescribed.
RELOCATION FOR URBAN RENOVATION
Earlier, on April 22, 2024, the Hai Phong People’s Committee issued Document No. 891/UBND-QH on relocating production facilities and warehouses in Quan Toan ward (Hong Bang district) and An Hong commune (An Duong district) to improve the urban landscape.
According to the document, since 2009, the Prime Minister has approved the adjusted planning of Hai Phong city until 2025, with a vision towards 2050 (in Decision No. 1448/QD-TTg dated September 16, 2009). This planning orientation gradually relocates factories, warehouses, and inner-city areas to make way for the construction of public services and additional green spaces. The river port area along the Cam River, after the relocation, will be used for urban functional areas, prioritizing public service works, green spaces, offices, and commerce.
Following this orientation, the approved planning subdivisions of the districts, towns, new urban areas, and rural communes have basically planned the areas of existing factories and warehouses outside the industrial parks and clusters into residential, public, and green space land.
According to the Hai Phong People’s Committee, the adjusted planning of the city until 2040, with a vision towards 2050 (approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 323/QD-TTg dated March 30, 2023), continues to orient the relocation of production establishments from the inner city to industrial and craft zones to renovate and rebuild the city, prioritizing the addition of parks, playgrounds, public works, and social infrastructure.
To establish an administrative unit in An Duong district and adjust the boundaries of a part of An Duong district to expand Hong Bang district in the 2024-2025 period, the Hai Phong People’s Committee approved the task of planning the subdivision of Hong Bang district at a ratio of 1/2,000 until 2040 (Decision No. 2967/QD-UBND dated October 2, 2023) and the planning subdivision of An Duong urban area at a ratio of 1/2,000 (Decision No. 515/QD-UBND dated February 23, 2024). The southwest area of Vat Cach industrial park and An Hong (adjacent to the old National Highway 5) has been planned for residential and urban green space.
To accelerate the development and renovation of the urban landscape according to the approved planning, it is necessary to relocate production facilities and warehouses from Quan Toan ward (Hong Bang district) and An Hong commune (An Duong district). To ensure that businesses are not caught off guard when the city revokes the land to implement this planning, the Chairman of the Hai Phong People’s Committee requested the People’s Committees of Hong Bang district and An Duong district to notify and guide the related enterprises (eight steel production and trading enterprises) to urgently plan to relocate their production facilities and warehouses from Quan Toan and An Hong to concentrated industrial and craft zones, completing the move by 2025.
At the same time, the Chairman of the Hai Phong People’s Committee also requested the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the People’s Committees of Hong Bang district and An Duong district, to refrain from conducting land use term extension procedures for enterprises in this area when the land lease term expires, in accordance with regulations.
