People struggle to make a living
In 2010, the Dak P'lao resettlement area in Dak Glong district (Dak Nong) was built by Dong Nai 3 Hydropower Company with a cost of more than 800 billion VND.
This is the largest resettlement area in the Central Highlands. From afar, this resettlement area looks like a bustling urban area, standing out among the mountains and forests of the Central Highlands. However, when you actually go inside, the lives of the people here are extremely difficult, in contrast to the spacious appearance on the outside.
Ms. H’Sam, from Dak P’lao commune, shared that her family used to live by the lake of Dong Nai 3 Hydropower Plant, in the Ta Dung National Park. Life at that time was very difficult, lacking everything, and the children had to travel far to go to school.
In 2010, when the government mobilized people to resettle in Dak P'lao commune, my family decided to move there. We were given a house and 1 hectare of land for production.
"At this time, everyone was excited and looking forward to a new, more fulfilling life. Because the new place had a spacious infrastructure and seemingly favorable living conditions, everyone believed that life would improve," said Ms. H'Sam.
However, according to Ms. H’Sam, the reality was not as expected. After only one year, her parents-in-law could not adapt to the new living environment.
The scarcity of domestic water, steep hills and lack of irrigation water make farming extremely difficult.
Due to economic pressures, people had to return to the old lake area to continue their lives. In any case, the old place felt better.
"Currently, the house in the resettlement area was left for me to live in by my family, but life is still very difficult," Ms. H'Sam added.
According to the People's Committee of Dak P'lao commune, by the fourth quarter of 2024, a total of 446 households had drawn lots to receive land in areas A and B of the Dak P'lao resettlement area.
Of these, 287 households have received land and are living stably; 159 households have drawn lots but have not yet been granted land use right certificates.
After 15 years, the authorities are still trying to complete the resettlement land allocation dossier and issue land use right certificates to the people.
According to Mr. Nguyen Vinh Truong - Chairman of Dak P'lao Commune People's Committee, although it is a resettlement commune, the biggest problem we are facing is that the work of compensation, support, and land allocation for resettlement and resettlement for people is still taking a long time.
Steep terrain and land in some areas are not suitable for agricultural development, leading to low crop yields, which greatly affects people's lives and livelihoods. Infrastructure such as roads, lighting, and improving the quality of healthcare are also concerns.
According to the review, there are still 19 households in the commune that refuse to move to the resettlement area. Of these, 18 households were given houses but did not receive them and 1 household was eligible for land but did not receive the land. Due to these shortcomings, this resettlement commune still has 129 poor households and 117 near-poor households.
People just arrived but left in a hurry
The Krong Pach Thuong Reservoir Irrigation Project has a capacity of 123 million m³ with a total investment of over VND4,400 billion. The project affects 4,849 households and reclaims 3,174 hectares of land, mainly in villages 9, 10, 11 of Cu San commune, M'Drak district.
People will be relocated to resettlement area No. 1 (Cu Elang commune) and resettlement area No. 2 (Cu Bong commune), Ea Kar district.
Resettlement Area No. 2 has a total investment of 300 billion VND, and will be home to 464 households. This includes 700 hectares for housing, transport infrastructure, schools and production land.
In fact, people have been living in this area since the first quarter of 2023, but many have since left to find new places to live.
By mid-November 2024, the entire resettlement area with about 269 households and more than 1,500 people living there did not meet the original design.
There are many reasons, among which the lack of agricultural land is one of the reasons why more than 160 households left and did not move to resettlement area No. 2.
It is worth mentioning that many people have built illegal houses on forestry land, along the East Truong Son road (Cu San commune, M'Drak district).
Mr. Giang Seo Quang said, I was one of the first people to live in the resettlement area and was assigned the task of self-management.
However, due to lack of arable land, some people have left for other places of residence even though the infrastructure of electricity, roads, schools, etc. in the resettlement area is very good.
In the past time, I have been closely following the grassroots, propagating and mobilizing people in the resettlement area to work hard and produce agriculture and not return to the forest to live.
According to the plan, resettlement area No. 2 has 256.32 hectares of rice land and 363.24 hectares of crop land.
However, by the end of October 2024, the project investor had only handed over more than 55% of the rice-growing land area.
At the end of October 2024, the working group of the Dak Lak Provincial People's Council pointed out that some households did not move to resettlement area No. 2 to live but built temporary houses (including solid wooden houses) along both sides of Dong Truong Son road (M'Drak district).
They are showing signs of continuing to encroach on forestry land and forest land to grow agricultural crops. This poses many risks, complications and causes many consequences for population management and forest protection in the future.
Although the People's Committee of M'Drak district has organized propaganda, mobilization and handled administrative violations, it has not been able to enforce them. Because the production land in resettlement area No. 2 has not been handed over to the people for cultivation.
Mr. Tran Phu Hung, Vice Chairman of the Dak Lak Provincial People's Council, said that a part of the people in the resettlement area have stabilized their lives and their children's education is guaranteed.
In some cases, people intend to move to another place to live, but they still have the mentality of not having land to produce.
The biggest difficulty at present is that the procedures for converting forest land and forestry land into agricultural land and rice cultivation land are still facing many obstacles. This leads to delays in handing over cultivated land to the people.
