VietNamNet Bridge – All houses under the resettlement programme in the northern Quang Ninh Province's Ha Long City which are being used for the wrong purpose will be repossessed.

Resettled residents' floating houses are used for tourism services. — Photo baoquangninh.com.vn

The information was released by Deputy Chairman of Ha Long City's People's Committee Hoang Quang Hai in a press briefing held by the Provincial Party Committee's Popularisation and Education Board (PPCPEB) on Tuesday.

Since 2014, Quang Ninh has relocated all the boatmen living on floating fishing villages on Ha Long Bay to the mainland at Resettlement Zone 8 in Ha Phong ward to help tackle the worsening pollution in the bay, a world natural heritage site.

The city also invested in infrastructure such as roads, schools and health centres to help improve the living standards of the people resettled there.

By the end of June 2015, all 344 households living on fishing villages had been relocated. However, the majority of them soon returned to their floating homes.

Deputy Head of PPCPEB Pham Hong Cam said that about 40 per cent of relocated residents living in the resettlement area 8 in Ha Phong ward were always absent from their current inland homes. They just returned once or twice a month.

"The reason for this absence is that most of the resettled households earn their living from fishing and aquaculture," Cam said.

Hai said some households were renting out their houses which had been provided by the government, and added that this was wrong and against the aim of the provincial resettlement housing project for local boatmen.

"This has led to students dropping out of schools and following their parents to the seas for fishing," Hai said.

Ha Long authorities have ordered the Ha Phong ward's People's Committee to hold a meeting with the residents to order them to use their resettlement houses just for living, Hai added.

"If the situation remains unchanged till November 20, the city will repossess all such houses being rented out," Hai said, and added that leasing of resettlement houses was a violation of the law.

According to the commitment, households were freely provided houses, but only after 10 years will the city's administration issue papers related to land use and ownership.

Source: VNS