Resettlement progress slows at dam project

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized the social consequences of resettling people to make way for the Son La Hydroelectric Plant to NA’s Standing Committee that met in Hanoi yesterday.

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized the social consequences of resettling people to make way for the Son La Hydroelectric Plant to NA’s Standing Committee that met in Hanoi yesterday.

Construction site of Son La Hydroelectric Plant
Construction site of Son La Hydroelectric Plant

Re-settlement of the displaced residents was an important, complex task that would change the lives of thousands of people, he said.
 
Many of the participants attending the first day of the Standing Committee’s 19th session echoed the chairman’s sentiments as they reviewed the assembly’s Resettlement Supervisory Group’s report.
 
The report says re-settlement of people in northern Son La, Dien Bien and Lai Chau provinces is still behind schedule and this will add pressure for the remainder of the mountain project’s life.
 
It will also affect the lives of the people.
 
The report says 12,500 or 62 percent of households have been resettled.
 
More than 5,000 ha of arable land has been allocated to 4,000 of these households but this was only about 40 percent of the amount scheduled, said Resettlement Supervisory Group chairman Ksor Phuoc.
 
The progress of public works such as roads, water, electric and schools in the re-settlement zones was slow, he said.
 
It meant that children had to travel to their former schools far from their new houses.
 
Most of the displaced understood their loss had been much greater than the State’s compensation, he said.
 
But they were willing to sacrifice their own interest for the country’s electricity. Now they were insecure because they had not seen any plants to ensure future production.
 
The Supervisory Groups report says most of the displaced live from State compensation.
 
It says hundreds of households have been resettled in new zones for two years but are still not sure of what to produce or how to do business.
 
Their new residences did not match their lifestyle and there were no help for them to develop farming and raise livestock.
The report says that although the policies to support displaced people were well implemented, they have not met people’s expectations.
 
The assessment of property compensation has been slow.
 
Compensation was confined to tangible property with income, work and cultural life not taken into account.
 
Post-resettlement
 
Many of the deputies agreed with the supervisory group’s view that helping people adapt to a new environment, new production methods and customs cannot be achieved in a few years.
 
They also agreed with the Supervisory Group’s proposal for post-resettlement policies with the priority to the building of infrastructure for production and people’s daily life.
 
The group suggested the need for employment polices and vocational training for farm laborers shifting from agriculture to other occupations.
 
The construction of resettlement zones must also preserve the cultural identity of minority people.
 
Economic Committee Chairman Ha Van Hien said the foremost task was to make people fully understand the State’s policies.
 
The task of the policymakers was to scrutinize their policies and make the appropriate changes.
 
National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong emphasized the role of Communist Party chapters and local officials to promote the process.
 
Deputy Prime Minister and Son La Project Steering Committee Chairman Hoang Trung Hai said the re-settlement of 19,000 households would be finished to deadline, July 2010.
 
The Government would ensure enough capital and remove any policy obstacles, he said.
 
The Government had asked all local authorities to examine and ensure all displaced people received compensation.
 
The Son La hydro-power plant is Vietnam’s major electricity project with a capacity of 2,400MW.
 
Lawmakers also heard reports on a draft ordinance that would assign costs and fees in civil litigation and administrative actions, before calling on the drafting committee to do further work on the proposed legislation.

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