On June 25, people in Chuong village, Ly Nhan district, Ha Nam province had just finished sowing seeds for the second crop in their fields when the local government sent a force to block the ditch and fill the path to seize their land, although the people are still negotiating the compensation price with the investor.
The coercion occurred in the context that Vietnam was experiencing a severe COVID-19 outbreak, and footage from the scene showed people resisting the government’s coercive efforts and leading to scuffles. As a result, at least one woman over 70 years old was injured and hospitalized.
The field of Chuong village is in the planning area of Thai Ha industrial park phase 1, signed by Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung in November 2019, and assigned to Thai Ha Industrial Park Investment Joint Stock Company as the investor.
An unclear number of fields to be recovered
According to the investment decision of the Government, Thai Ha Industrial Park Phase 1 has a scale of 100 hectares in three communes Bac Ly, Chan Ly, and Tran Hung Dao of Ly Nhan district.
According to Chuong villagers, about 500 households here have fields that are in the project area, and the problem lies in the fact that the investor does not stop at the number of 100 hectares as originally announced, but wants to take another 15 hectares of farmland, making people doubt the real purpose of land acquisition.
The number of 15 hectares that is not part of this project, according to people, is to subdivide plots to sell plots to the private sector to build houses, thereby creating a problem about compensation prices.
Mr. T, a resident of Chuong village, told RFA:
“Everybody wants to develop their homeland, but there are cases in the neighboring communes where they get the land, but they divide the plot to sell it as residential land, not as an industrial park, because the information is vague, so people don’t believe it.”
On the web portal of the Management Board of Industrial Parks of Ha Nam Province, there is still information about the scale of Thai Ha Industrial Park Phase 1, which is 100 hectares.
The reporter of the RFA contacted the representative of the owner of the industrial park for verification but did not receive a response. And Mr. Tran Xuan Duong, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ha Nam province, after listening to a reporter’s question about the difference between the planned land amount and the acquired land, said that he was “busy in a meeting” and declined to be interviewed.
Compensation price and market price difference too much
People said that they were informed that the compensation price for each acre of the field was VND73 million for 360 square meters, and out of 500 households whose fields are subject to confiscation, more than 300 households have accepted the compensation while the remaining 179 households have not yet agreed with the compensation price offered by the investor.
According to people who have not reached an agreement with the investor, the land in the locality is priced much higher than the compensation price, and if the negotiation is good, it can be sold for VND250 or even VND300 million dong for every 360 square meters.
Another local (who remained anonymous for safety reasons) asked this question in an interview with RFA, she said:
“Why do people buy land from the people outside the private sector and get a high price, but why buy it at a low price?”
The reason why people ask the investor to raise the compensation price is that the land is the only source of livelihood for many families, and many households have all their land that is subject to acquisition in this project. If they were forced to sell their land, they will be unemployed.
“Bringing the industrial park here to develop the country is fine, but if we have to negotiate with the price offered by the people, then they take all the land of the people, how do we live?”. An unnamed local resident said.
Forced eviction
On the morning of June 25, the local government organized the coercion of people’s land even though the two sides could not reach an agreement on the compensation price.
According to residents, the enforcement team was larger than 100 people, including riot police armed with shields, armor, and sticks, uniformed police, and plainclothes officers, accompanied by excavators, bulldozers, and trucks.
The enforcement team blocked the entrances to the field to prevent people from accessing the clearance area. Videos taken at the scene showed people screaming in protest, and a scuffle broke out, leaving at least two elderly women injured, including an elderly woman in her 70s who was hospitalized.
Residents said the government will organize another round of enforcement on July 5.
In an interview with RFA after the coercion, one resident commented, “I don’t know where to ask for justice?”
Thoibao.de (Translated)
