HCMC to minimize damage for residents in areas under planning

Planning limitations such as slow implementation and unfeasibility have impacted residents’ rights, therefore HCMC People’s Committee will recalculate implementation method of plans to minimize damage for residents in planning zones, said deputy chairman of the committee Tran Vinh Tuyen on November 27.

Slow implementation of park development plans has caused a shortage of green cover in HCMC (Photo: SGGP)
Slow implementation of park development plans has caused a shortage of green cover in HCMC (Photo: SGGP)
He was speaking at an explanation session on planning and plan implementation of functional areas for education and parks in the city organized by the standing committee of HCMC People’s Council.
At the session, director of the Department of Planning and Architecture Nguyen Thanh Nha said that relevant sides are focusing on implementing plans including park and tree development program.
However, there has been no implementation plan for 11,030 hectares planned for park development, accounting for 96 percent of the total. Meantime, plan implementation to functional land for education approximates only 30 percent.
Talking about reasons for the low implementation ratio, chairwoman of HCMC People’s Council Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam said that was due to unfeasible and unreasonable plans. For instance, tree development has been planned in the middle of residential areas so it has been difficult to reclaim land. She questioned that who should be responsible for the issue.
Ms. Tam said that authorized agencies should clearly inform residents of plan implementation time, five years, ten years or 30 years. During that time, which policies and measures would be applied to make sure residents’ rights.
Head of the Legislation Department of HCMC People’s Council Truong Lam Danh said that most park plans have been located in residential areas and forced to change afterwards.
Giving evidences on the irrationality of plan implementation, deputies at the session said that investors of some real estate projects had built housing and commercial areas to do business while construction of public roads, parks and schools was late. Afterwards they lamented difficulties in compensation and suggested project plan adjustment narrowing areas for education and park.
According to Mr. Danh, the education and park area reduction just benefit investors.
Mr. Nguyen Minh Nhut, deputy head of Urban Department of the People Council, queried about solutions which the Department of Planning and Architecture and the Department of Construction would apply to tackle the issue in which projects have been assigned to unqualified investors.
Explaining the above issues, director of the Department of Planning and Architecture Nguyen Thanh Nha admitted that some plans locate in residents’ properties with high site clearance and compensation costs affecting plan feasibility.
He committed to implementing lot of measures to improve plans’ quality and ensure feasibility.
Deputy head of the Department of Planning and Architecture Nguyen Thanh Toan said that many areas have been planned for traffic, parks and education so he prompted relevant sides to register projects to have a basic to implement plans.
Answering reporters’ question about the removal of unfeasible plans, Mr. Toan said that the agency’s point of view is that it is unable to remove long delayed plans from this place to another place.
Listening to residents to adjust planning
At the session, deputy chairman Tran Vinh Tuyen said that planning for development is inevitable. However, the biggest limitation of the city in planning work is slow implementation. Some plans have faced resident’s objection when being implemented.
He affirmed that residents are not happy to see target increase in park and education planning area because the current way of doing has caused lot of instabilities for their lives.
Mr. Tuyen said that HCMC People’s Committee will listen to residents’ opinions to review and adjust unfeasible plans. Aside from that the city will recalculate plan implementation method to prevent lateness from affecting their lives. The most troublesome problem is that they cannot transfer land use purpose.
So the committee will reconsider policies to residents in areas under plans. They have been unable to transfer the use purpose of agricultural land so they have to receive very low compensation when projects are carried out.
The committee will consider permitting them to transfer land use purpose for higher compensation and send a proposal to the standing board of the HCMC Party Committee, Mr. Tuyen underlined.
Wrapping up the session, chairwoman of HCMC People’s Council Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam prompted relevant agencies to renew their thought in planning, plan management and implementation.
They should count roadmap and resources when building plans to ensure feasibility for sustainable development target and residents’ life improvement, she added.

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