LookAtVietnam – A shortage of schools in new urban areas and resettlement areas, land use rights, and pollution were among the hottest issues raised during yesterday’s question-and-answer session with the Ha Noi People’s Council.

Students at Kim Dong Primary school in Ba Dinh district. A shortage of schools in new urban areas was among the issues raised at a question-and-answer session with the Ha Noi People’s Council.

However, a number of wards in some districts in the city still lacked primary and secondary schools, and six wards were yet to establish public nursery schools, Hang said.

The problem was attributed to limited land areas and a fast-growing population, she added, noting that the city was in the progress of withdrawing idle and inappropriately used land rights, some of which could be allocated to building schools.

Council members expressed concern over the lack of planning for the population growth, development of new urban areas and infrastructure development, as well as the failure to allocate land for new schools.

Council member Nguyen Thi Ngoc Minh wondered how planning would be adjusted to account for population growth and what would be done to help wards that did not have sufficient land for needed schools.

Councillor Bui Thi An agreed, saying the proper planning was essential to ensuring poor children get access to public schools. She asked municipal authorities to announce the results of infrastructure inspections in 100 new urban areas.

Answering questions from citizens, Hang said, under the 2003 plan, in which districts and communes concurred, not every district had schools.

The Ha Noi People’s Committee was working with relevant agencies and districts to develop a school system plan through 2020 which would define locations for the construction of public and private schools, she said, adding that the plan was slated for completion next year.

Hang admitted that not all unused land recovered from businesses would be used for schools, although priority would be given to school construction consistent with overall municipal planning.

Council member Le Quang Nhue said inspections of the school system were being carried out too slowly and urged the city to take population growth and educational needs into consideration when approving the construction of apartment buildings.

Council member Nguyen Hiep also noted that city regulations only required that land be earmarked for schools but did not regulate where the funds would come from, which would lead to private investment and make it harder for poor households to send their kids to school.

Hang said the city would entrust districts and communes to invest adequately in school facilities, and the city would also invest in building public schools as well as call for investment from the private sector.

Idle land rights

Ha Noi has yet met any obstacles to revoking idle or improperly used land use rights, People’s Committee vice chairman Vo Hong Khanh told yesterday’s session.

Delays were occurring because these projects were being classified for inspection and it took time to deal with complaints from investors about their revoked projects, he said.

The city has over 500 delayed projects with land use rights.

Regarding the construction of Ring Road No 3, Khanh affirmed that the municipal authorities and relevant agencies had held many working sessions with households to be relocated by the project and had issued many related documents in line with the law.

But citizens retained the right to lodge complaints in line with current regulations, he added.

Concerning the management over land owned by agricultural co-operatives, he admitted that the capacity of a number of co-operatives remained low but the changes in land use rights needed to be implemented in accordance with city plans.

Pollution problem

Voters also raised concerns about pollution in the city.

The total amount of solid waste in the city was estimated at around 5,000 tonnes per day. Surface water in many areas was also significantly polluted by waste discharged from industrial zones, hospitals and craft villages.

Heavy dust and air pollution caused by construction and large vehicles also continued to be a pressing issue.

In order to resolve the issues, the municipal People’s Committee was planning a solid waste treatment facility for the city while increasing inspection at production facilities, industrial zones and hospitals to punish violators and require them to comply with environmental regulations.

The city has targeted to treat 100 per cent of collected medical solid waste, 10-15 per cent of wastewater, and 40 per cent of industrial wastewater by 2010.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News