Hai Duong to hand over land to VSIP despite protests from residents

Speaking at a press conference for the local authorities to announce the long-delayed investment project’s construction progress on March 31, Deputy Chairman of the Hai Duong People’s Committee Vuong Duc Sang said if some households still refused to relocate, the committee would use coercive measures.

The plan for Cam Dien-Luong Dien IP in Hai Duong was ratified by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in 2008, with the area of 205.28 hectares and the investor being Phuc Hung Ltd. In 2009 and 2010 Phuc Hung started construction of the infrastructure but was stopped by some households.

In 2014, the prime minister allowed the province to transfer the project to Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park and Township Development Joint Stock Company (VSIP JSC) from Phuc Hung Ltd. In April 2015 Phuc Hung finished the transfer to VSIP Hai Duong, a subsidiary of VSIP JSC. VSIP Hai Duong then planned to carry out the first phase of the project with the area of 150ha and the plan was ratified by the Hai Duong People’s Committee in October 2015.

Since then VSIP Hai Duong still hasn’t been able to start construction due to protests from residents.

According to Nguyen Huu Loc, deputy director of the Hai Duong Department of Natural Resources and Environment, as of now, 70 of the approximately 1,300 households have yet to receive site clearance compensation and refuse to relocate to new locations because they asked for a much higher site clearance compensation than what is outlined in Vietnamese regulations. These households often gathered in front of the work yard, obstructing the process of site clearance.

Loc said that the compensation asked by these households was unreasonably high and fell completely out of line with Vietnamese regulations.

The people’s committee has for many times held dialogues with residents but failed to persuade them to receive the offered compensation and relocate to new locations.

As of now, the Hai Duong Industrial Zones Management Authority has licensed two projects with the total capital of $152 million in Cam Dien-Luong Dien IP. These projects have yet to start. At the same time, numerous investors are completing procedures to receive investment certificates.

A flagship cooperation initiated by the governments of Vietnam and Singapore, VSIP currently has seven projects across Vietnam, in Binh Duong, Bac Ninh, Haiphong, Quang Ngai, Hai Duong, and Nghe An provinces. VSIP has attracted $7.9 billion in the total investment capital from over 583 companies and employs about 160,000 workers.