News and Events

A huge project to develop a college neighborhood in the central region has been inactive for fifteen years, forcing on-site residents to live with uncertainty throughout the suspension period.

It dates back to 1997, when the government approved the development of the so-called ‘Da Nang University Village’ on a 300 hectare site on the border of Quang Nam Province and Da Nang City at a total cost of VND10 trillion (US$480 million).

Dr Tran Van Nam, director of Da Nang University, which is the developer of the project, explained that a lack of funds has led to the deferment, as the government merely oozes a few dozen billion dong each year.

Only a few components have been built as of now with that rate of disbursement, Dr Nam said.

The village is projected to be a center of excellence that will house the university’s member colleges, which are currently scattered across Da Nang, and an enclosed system of libraries, labs, sports grounds, and dormitories. But the developer has so far only finished a junior college and a dorm.

Dr Nam said the university has been asking central education authorities and other sources for funding for the construction.

Empty land, insecure life

Around 2,000 residents whose land was taken for the construction of the village have been living with insecurity during these years.

“I feel pain every time I look at my land, once a field of rice and luxuriant vegetation,” Le Thi Tam, 80, said. “A few years ago, I ceded the property to the government to carry out the project but they have built nothing on it as yet.”

Tam and generations of her family had lived on the land, 1,000 square meters in area, located in the Da Nang territory before she agreed to sacrifice the plot for the proposed village.

No adjustments to old developments or new constructions are allowed at the project site, so many can do nothing but continue dwelling in deteriorating houses.

“My house is dilapidated already,” Pham Thi Them, Tam’s neighbor, said. “I’m going to move to another place in the upcoming stormy season, as it’s dangerous to stay in it then.”