Land left unused for years by 211 Hanoi projects

By Vo Hai August 12, 2018 | 05:26 pm PT

A man herds his flock of domestic ducks at an abandoned project in Me Linh District, Hanoi. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

Inspectors have found 211 approved projects in Hanoi leaving 44 million square meters of land untouched for years.

In a report on projects approved for private investment in the 2012-2017 period, inspectors from the Hanoi People’s Council, the municipal legislature, said that more than 44 million square meters (10,870 acres) of land had not been used for many years.

They said some projects have been left untouched and stayed as vacant land from earlier than 2012.

District-level authorities put the actual number of projects at 383.

According to the council’s inspectors, there are projects that appear in reports by district authorities but do not show up in reports of Hanoi's Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

They also said local authorities have done a poor job of handling violating projects. The People’s Council had brought to their notice specific projects that have remained dormant for years and recommended their closure since 2012 but nothing has been done since then.

In one instance, the municipal natural resources department even “forgot” to submit reports to the municipal People’s Committee, which is in charge of acting on proposals by the People’s Council, to cancel a delayed project in Ba Vi District.

The inspectors have suggested that the Hanoi administration conducts a general review to count the exact number of approved projects that private investors have delayed for years.