Dozens of households in Tan Phu, Phu Thu, Thuong Thanh wards, Cai Rang district, Can Tho city affected by the Can Tho - Hau Giang expressway project, part of the North - South expressway construction investment project in the East phase 2021 - 2025, have submitted a petition to the National Assembly, the Prime Minister, and the Government Inspectorate with the content of requesting to review the land price for households to be resettled when the state reclaims land to implement the above project.
These households said that the unit price for resettlement land is many times higher than the unit price for compensation for residential land.
Regarding the above issue, the Petition Committee (Committee of the National Assembly Standing Committee) has sent Official Dispatch No. 582 to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Can Tho City. Accordingly, the Petition Committee forwarded the petitions of 40 households in Cai Rang District to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Can Tho City for consideration, direction to resolve within authority, in accordance with the provisions of law, respond to citizens and report the results of the resolution to the Petition Committee to perform the task of supervising the resolution of complaints and denunciations of the National Assembly Standing Committee.
According to the petition, previously, the People's Committee of Cai Rang District (Can Tho City) allocated resettlement land to households and told them to build houses to live in. At this time, the People's Committee of Can Tho City has not yet issued a decision on land use fees for resettlement housing. These households have received compensation for land at the lowest price of 4.5 million VND/m2 and the highest price of nearly 8 million VND/m2 (urban residential land).
By August 23, 2023, Can Tho City People's Committee issued Decision No. 1952 approving the land use fee collection price for resettlement areas. The lowest land price is 14.5 million VND/m2 and the highest is 21.6 million VND/m2 (depending on location).
These households said that with the above land price, they had to pay an average of 4 times the compensation. Most of them are working class, even very poor. Therefore, they cannot afford to buy and build a house to live in. The households are in a deadlock, not knowing how to earn enough money to buy resettlement land.
As a household whose entire land area of about 3,000 square meters was affected by the highway project, Mr. Le Van Luc (66 years old) shared that having to pay 6 billion VND for 5 resettlement plots was too much for him. If his family went to the resettlement area to pay for infrastructure and finished building a house, they would be left with nothing, and would have no choice but to go begging.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hien (60 years old) was confused and said: "After hearing the land price of 14.5 million VND/m2, I felt very uneasy, because I didn't know where to get the money to pay. Therefore, I hope the state authorities will carefully review and have a suitable price for people to settle down and make a living."
“We are aware that this is a national key project, necessary for the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta. Therefore, we have also complied with the land handover so that the State can quickly implement the expressway project. However, the impact of the project on us is too great, even disrupting our lives, primarily due to the resettlement settlement,” said dozens of households who signed.
