“Handing Over Information on the Residential Area Project with Numerous Violations to the Police for Verification”

On June 27, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Trung, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee of Dak Lak, chaired a dialogue with households filing complaints regarding the construction project for infrastructure of the Pan Lam – Ko Sier residential area (resettlement) under the detailed planning of the Tan Lap ward, Buon Ma Thuot city.

During the dialogue, the Provincial Inspectorate informed the inspection conclusion on the aforementioned project. The authority pointed out a series of violations in the process of formulating and implementing the project’s planning.

Specifically, specialized agencies have not fully conducted the task of collecting opinions from the community; failed to synthesize and explain dissenting opinions to report to the competent authority; and the number of collected opinions did not meet the legal requirements.

In particular, the area of land for resettlement according to the detailed planning at a ratio of 1/500 approved in 2013 decreased by 1.19 hectares compared to the planning at a ratio of 1/2000 approved in 2007. This was one of the reasons for the additional land retrieval, directly affecting the lives of many households, increasing compensation costs, and total investment of the project.

Furthermore, the People’s Committee of Buon Ma Thuot city granted construction permits and land-use certificates to some cases that were inconsistent with the approved planning and legal provisions. There were cases where the purpose of land use was allowed to be changed from agricultural land to residential land contrary to the approved planning.

These aforementioned inconsistencies have led to prolonged complaints over the years. Mr. Nguyen Danh Thang, a resident of Tan Lap ward, expressed his opinion that the prolonged project has affected the lives of the people.

“The project has been going on for too long, and people cannot build houses or do anything else. If the project continues, it should be terminated according to regulations, and pink books should be granted to the people to stabilize their lives,” Mr. Thang recommended.

Mr. Truong Cong Thai, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Dak Lak province, said that based on the inspection conclusion on the project, the province will implement the next steps and review the project. All relevant information will be publicly posted to ensure the rights and interests of the people.

Regarding the violations mentioned by the Provincial Inspectorate, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Trung, Secretary of the Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee, directed to transfer the information to the police for consideration and verification within their competence.

“If there is a case of implementing procedures for changing the purpose of land use, transfer, pink book granting, or construction permit granting when there is already a planning scheme, the case should be transferred to the police for investigation to clarify the motive, interest groups, or negative factors,” directed Mr. Trung.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Trung emphasized that from July 1st, the official operation of the district-level government will come to an end. Therefore, he requested that the new administration of Tan Lap ward immediately access the Inspection Conclusion of the province to implement related contents. He also required that the performance of the new administration must be better and more effective than that of the old administrative agency.