A fund set up by HCM City to assist residents whose lands have been acquired for public works cannot cope with the demands placed on it since too many families are demanding help, its management said.
Around 40,000 families displaced by infrastructure projects are demanding assistance worth VND135 billion ($7.6 million), but Fund 156 said it only has VND15 billion.
The demands include VND7 billion for paying school fees for 14,000 students and VND125 billion to create jobs for 8,000 people.
In October 2007, the city People’s Committee set up Fund 156 with an initial capital of VND50 billion.
It required all new projects to contribute 5 per cent of their capital and those already under way to contribute 3 per cent.
As of September 2009, however, while it should have received at least VND4 trillion ($225 million) from more than 500 projects, it has only got VND16 billion from four of them.
Among the biggest defaulters are the developers of the Thu Thiem New Urban Area in District 2 who have yet to pay a dong out of the VND350 billion ($19.6 million) they should have.
A project in District 8 has paid VND3.7 billion out of the VND21 billion it owes.
The main reason for the tardy payment is that investors claim the amount is too high.
The city People’s Committee has only recently begun to act to recover the dues. Earlier this year it instructed district-level people’s committees to encourage project developers to pay up so that displaced residents can be provided with vocational and other training, jobs, or loans to do business.
But, in the absence of effective sanctions against defaulters, Fund 156’s situation has yet to see any improvement.
Sources : Vietnam News