The HCM City People’s Committee decided to reallocate 58,000sq.m of disused public land in District 8 to make it available for schools and resettlement projects.

Storehouse 627, a public land area on Ben Binh Dong Street, HCM City’s District 8 has been rent for storing eggs for 5 years. The city authority is planning to reallocate such vacant public land to build schools.

The land under the decision is currently occupied by 19 vacant State-run warehouses and another 14 disused warehouses run by joint stock companies.

Most of the land will be reallocated for construction of six schools and 12,000 apartments for resettlement, while 1,500sq.m will be sold to raise funds to compensate people who hand over their land for urban enhancement projects.

The city’s House Management and Trading Company complained, however, that earlier similar decisions signed by the committee to withdraw misused public land had not been carried out.

Another 40 warehouses in District 8, totaling 70,000sq.m of public land, are being rented out to private sector businesses for VND25,000 (US$1.4) a square metre per month, the city People’s Council’s economic and budget management division said.

“Many land managers refuse to return the land and continue leasing it to the private sector,” the company said.

In District 1, land being managed by Vam Co Dong Agricultural Material Joint Stock Company at 28 Mac Dinh Chi Street is being illegally let to Hoa Vien Restaurant, while land at numbers 8 and12 Le Duan Street in District 1 and 91 Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street in District 5 is also being misused.

The company said it had asked for stricter measures to be taken by the city’s Steering Committee for Corruption Prevention.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News