Residents have long insisted that five residential quarters in three wards in Thu Thiem Peninsula, HCMC are outside the boundary of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, but the Government Inspectorate has concluded following an inspection that these quarters are inside the new urban area. 

The opposite views will certainly make it tough to resolve the protracted land dispute between the affected residents and the HCMC government.

Representatives of 20 families that have long disputed the city’s decision to relocate them from the five quarters to make room for developing the new urban area, yesterday, June 17, participated in a dialog with representatives of the Government Inspectorate, the HCMC People’s Committee and other central and city agencies.

At the meeting, Dinh Dang Lap, deputy head of the Department of Inspection and Settlement of Complaints and Denunciations at the Government Inspectorate, informed the inspectorate’s Announcement 1169 issued on July 21, 2021 to make a conclusion on an inspection of complaints related to the five residential quarters.

Announcement 1169 states there is sufficient evidence that land in the five quarters of Binh An, Binh Khanh and An Khanh wards is inside the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, so it cannot be disputed.

Nonetheless, representatives of the 20 families present at the dialog expressed disapproval of the announcement.

They argued that only the 1:5000 planning maps enclosed with the Prime Minister’s Decision 367 of June 4, 1996 on approval of the new urban area are of legal value but these maps are nowhere to be found. The maps which the inspectorate used to determine the boundary are different from these above maps, so they hold no legal value.

Speaking at the meeting, Luu Binh Nhuong, deputy head of the People’s Aspirations Committee of the National Assembly, expressed sympathy with the affected residents, saying his committee would report to the National Assembly Standing Committee.

When the Prime Minister gave approval in 1996, Thu Thiem was highly expected to become an urban jewel of HCMC and Vietnam as a whole. But the Thu Thiem Peninsula is now mostly undeveloped due to the long-unresolved land dispute.

Thu Thiem formerly belonged to District 2 but after the districts of Thu Duc, 9 and 2 were merged to create Thu Duc City, Thu Thiem has become part of Thu Duc City, a jourisdiction under HCMC.

Source; SGT