Degraded relic, Hoi An asks for support mechanism for residents
On May 8, in an exchange with a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Duc Binh - Secretary of the Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Council of Hoi An ward - affirmed that the ward only proposed a special mechanism to handle some cases of households living in relics managed by the State, not to propose relocating people out of Hoi An ancient town.
According to Mr. Binh, this information needs to be understood correctly in the context that Hoi An is looking for solutions to the problem of heritage preservation, especially with relics that have seriously deteriorated but have not been restored for many years due to residents living inside.
At the preliminary conference on 1 year of implementing the arrangement of administrative units at all levels and operating the 2-level local government model organized by the Da Nang City Party Committee on May 7, Hoi An ward had a presentation on the current situation of local management and development in the heritage urban space.
In which, the ward proposed that Da Nang City propose to the Central Government to study a specific mechanism for managing, preserving and developing Hoi An Ancient City - a World Cultural Heritage - in a 2-level local government model. Hoi An ward is currently the central area of the heritage urban space. After arrangement, the ward was established on the basis of Minh An, Cam Pho, Son Phong, Cam Nam and Cam Kim areas, with an area of 10.81km2 and a population of more than 37,000 people.
This is not only a grassroots administrative unit, but also an area directly responsible for managing, preserving and promoting the values of Hoi An Ancient City. Management pressure is therefore very high: both preserving heritage and managing population, business, tourism, festivals, urban order, environment, traffic, and accommodation.
However, according to Mr. Binh, there are issues that exceed the handling authority of the ward level, even exceeding the normal mechanism of the locality. Typical examples are some households living for many years in relics managed by the State, but without red books, not meeting the conditions for resettlement according to current regulations.
Mr. Binh cited the case of Mr. H.V. L's family living in the Soul Temple from before 1975 to now. This relic has seriously deteriorated, the locality really wants to restore, restore and promote its value, but cannot do it because there are still households living inside, and disputes arise within the family.
Another case is the Van Chi communal house relic. Previously, there were many households living here, Hoi An had relocated some households, but there are still some cases of problems, making land clearance for relic restoration not yet complete.
According to leaders of Hoi An ward, these are special cases: people who have lived in the relic for a long time, are in difficult circumstances, do not have land papers; while if forced out of the relic, they are not able to buy land themselves, because the land price in Hoi An is very high. Conversely, if there is no resettlement support plan, the State cannot restore the degraded relic.
No need to relocate people from heritage cities
Mr. Binh emphasized that Hoi An ward's proposal is not to relocate all residents out of the Old Quarter or out of the heritage city. The content of the petition only focuses on a number of households living in relics managed by the State, which are particularly affected, and need a separate mechanism to support resettlement.
The ward only proposes a mechanism to relocate people living in state relics because the resettlement arrangement exceeds the authority of the ward and the city. It is necessary to request a special mechanism from the Central Government like Hue before. This mechanism is only to handle special problems, associated with each specific relic, not to remove all Hoi An residents from Hoi An ancient town" - Mr. Binh said.
According to Mr. Binh, Hue once had a special mechanism to relocate and arrange resettlement for many households living in the upper city area, thereby freeing up the relic space and serving conservation work. Hoi An wishes to study this model to have appropriate solutions for households living in relics managed by the State.
In essence, this is a proposal to simultaneously solve two goals: ensuring minimum rights for disadvantaged people and removing bottlenecks in heritage conservation. Without a special mechanism, many degraded relics will continue to be "stuck" between legal regulations, management authority and the reality of people's lives.
Hoi An ward is a heritage ward, there is no relocation of all households out of this heritage city" - Mr. Binh affirmed.
