The New Development: Residents Hand Over Land for Expressway Construction, Still Awaiting Resettlement After Almost 2 Years

On June 9, numerous households in Krong Pak District, Dak Lak Province, had their entire residential land expropriated for the Khanh Hoa – Buon Ma Thuot Expressway project and are still awaiting their resettlement land allocation as stipulated.

Nguyen Huu Hung (born 1972), a resident of Tan Tien commune, shared that his family’s 120-square-meter residential land, along with their house, was handed over to the local authorities for the expressway construction in 2023. As a result of losing their residential land, Mr. Hung’s family has repeatedly petitioned the local government for resettlement land allocation as per regulations, to no avail.

“The responsibility for allocating resettlement land to my family falls under the jurisdiction of the People’s Committee of Krong Pak District. In reality, while the resettlement land has been available, the District People’s Committee has failed to allocate it for an extended period. With only a short time left before the dissolution of the current district-level administration, my family is deeply concerned” – Mr. Hung expressed.

Nguyen Thanh Quyen, another affected resident, had over 130 square meters (including 70 square meters of residential land) expropriated for the Khanh Hoa – Buon Ma Thuot Expressway project. Following the handover of their land and house to the local authorities, Mr. Quyen’s family had to move in with his parents.

After repeated unsuccessful petitions, Mr. Quyen, along with several other households, filed a lawsuit and won. However, up until now, the People’s Committee of Krong Pak District has yet to enforce the court ruling.

“On April 17, the People’s Court of Dak Lak Province held a first-instance trial and ruled that the People’s Committee of Krong Pak District must allocate a residential land lot with payment for land use rights and without auction in the central residential cluster of Ea Knuéc commune. Having waited for a long time without any action, we submitted a request on May 23, asking the People’s Committee to enforce the ruling. However, the District Chairman assigned the Department of Agriculture and Environment to handle our request, causing us great concern” – an exasperated Mr. Quyen shared.

Regarding the concerns raised by the residents, on June 9, Tran Van Tuyen, Vice Chairman of Krong Pak District People’s Committee, stated that the district had planned to meet that morning to discuss resettlement land allocation for the affected residents. However, the specialized departments were occupied with preparing documents for the inspection of the Khanh Hoa – Buon Ma Thuot Expressway project and thus couldn’t convene the meeting.

In response to the question of whether the district could fulfill this task before the dissolution of the current district-level administration, Mr. Tuyen affirmed, “Yes. We will hold the meeting, approve the allocations, and then the households can proceed with the necessary procedures within this week.”

As previously reported by NLD, about 15 households in Krong Pak District had their entire residential land expropriated for the Khanh Hoa – Buon Ma Thuot Expressway project and were entitled to receive resettlement land with payment for land use rights and without auction.

Most of these households complied with the policy and handed over their land and properties to ensure the timely construction of the expressway. Despite the availability of resettlement land, the People’s Committee of Krong Pak District has struggled to resolve this matter, causing concern and agitation among the affected residents.