Power plant resettlement scheme heats up in Vietnam
HANOI - Planned relocations of tens of thousands of families in Vietnam's
remote northwest have hit a snag as squatters have claimed land set aside for
the resettlement, officials said Friday.
Forty households have taken up residence in Lai Chau province's Ban
Dong area, where officials had planned to resettle up to 200 families in a
two-year pilot project beginning this month to make way for the massive Son
La hydroelectric dam.
The squatters, ethnic Hmong from a nearby commune, have been allowed
by authorities to stay.
"We have found another place and will let these people stay there," said
Vu Duc Thin of power monopoly Electricity of Vietnam.
The developments, while on a small scale, portend a potential clash
between authorities intent on providing new homes for the displaced and local
ethnic groups seeking arable lands in the region.
The Son La dam, Vietnam's largest infrastructure project, has already
been approved in principle by communist leaders, but its dimensions have yet
to be finalised.
In the planning stages for years, the dam's reservoir will flood up to
44,700 hectares of land in Son La and Lai Chau, and require resettlement of
100,000 people, mostly ethnic minorities, by the time it is completed in 2015.
The government has earmarked 660 million U.S. dollars for resettlement.
But the plan has drawn fire from local officials as well as foreign diplomats
concerned over how Vietnam intends to foot the 3-5 billion U.S. dollar bill for
the project, given the reluctance of Western donors to support schemes that
force large-scale displacement of people.
Deutsche Presse Agentur GmbH - October 12, 2001.
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