Panel Issues Notice of Non-Registration of Vietnam Environment Project

The Inspection Panel on February 23, 2023, issued a Notice of Non-Registration for a Request for Inspection of the Vietnam: Vietnam Coastal Cities Sustainable Environment Project (P156143).

The Request was submitted on December 24, 2022, by 35 individuals living in the Project area of Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam.  The Requesters have asked the Panel to keep their identities confidential. The Requesters complain that that different resettlement “Decisions” made in December 2014 and August 2021 by the People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa Province were contradictory inconsistently applied, and that they have been negatively impacted by the methodology used for calculating land prices for resettlement land. They claim they owned Project-affected houses and land before the Project cut-off date, and they are entitled to on-site resettlement, but Project authorities deemed them ineligible. The Requesters allege that some households, which at one time were part of the resettlement program, were subsequently excluded from it. The Requesters believe their land has been miscategorized and hence undervalued, and that the resettlement package neither compensates them for the replacement value nor adequately restores their livelihoods. The Request also alleges that some households were “forced to” accept the acquisition of their land. 
 
The Panel issued a Notice of Receipt on its website on January 18, 2023. The Panel reviewed the information contained in the Request, and spoke to the Requesters in January and February 2023 to better understand their concerns, and to Bank Management on February 13, 2023. While the Panel notes Management appears to have had prior knowledge of resettlement-related issues in the Project, the Panel was not satisfied that Management had a reasonable opportunity to respond to the allegations raised in the Request. Furthermore, considering the change in the scope of land acquisition and resettlement, which now excludes the area where the Requesters live from the Project’s resettlement program, the Panel considers the Requesters are no longer affected by the Project’s resettlement valuation and compensation process. Therefore, the Panel did not register the Request. More.