Hundreds of households in Lam Dong Province want to their land back for farming after a local hydro-power project was cancelled.
Sardeung Hydro-power Project was given a construction license by the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee in 2006. The project was planned to be built on a total area of 295 hectares in the two districts of Lam Ha and Dam Rong.
The investor of the project, Lilama 45.1 Company, had paid compensation of over VND24.10 billion (USD 1.05) to 245 households to take their land for the project. However, the company failed to carry out the project and local authorities decided to reclaim the land in 2016.
Since then, the land has been left under lax management which has resulted in rampant illegal sand exploitation in the area. The land has also been illegally traded around.
Many households have proposed to return their compensation payments to local authorities in order to have their land restored.
Vice-chairman of Lam Ha District People's Committee, Nguyen Minh An, admitted that there have been illegal land transactions after local authorities reclaimed the land from the project's investor.
A resident, Tran Thi Nga, said that her land had been taken for the project for over 15 years. She has been farming while the project stalled.
"I want to take my land back to invest more in farming," she said. "We live off farming work so we really need it."
Speaking to the media about the situation, head of the Department for Environment and Natural Resources of Lam Ha District, Nguyen Tai Phuong said that they have recovered 100 hectares of land from the project but haven't given it to any agencies to manage.
"In 2020, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee asked us to consider granting land use right certificates to people who want to return their compensation to have their land returned," Phuong said. "But we haven't been able to carry out this unprecedented demand and are waiting for detailed instructions from the committee."
