A villa was illegally built on agricultural land of perennial trees while a restaurant was constructed on canal banks in Vietnam's Mekong Delta region, sparking an uproar as the problem has remained unsolved for long.

Local officials said they noticed these illegal structures, and then reminded their subordinates to inspect these cases, but the issue was skipped over.

Many residents have complained about the villa and restaurant complex built on farmland with no permits and construction certificates by Nguyen Tan T., who lives in An Phuoc Commune, Mang Thit District, located in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long.

The group of structures is situated near Provincial Road 902, which links Mang Thit District and Vinh Long City, the provincial capital.

It is easy to see the palatial villa next to a small canal.

The reinforced concrete villa is encroaching on two meters of the canal bank.  

The restaurant, called Nguyen Phat owned by T., is behind the villa and near the Co Chien River, partially sitting on the water of the canal.

According to the An Phuoc Commune government, T. owns nearly 4,000 square meters of land, including 300 square meters of agricultural land.

T. admitted that when building the villa, he made spoken announcements to the local authorities.

He thought it was not necessary to ask for construction certificates in rural areas.

“My villa covers a total area of 450 square meters, exceeding the permissible level of 300 square meters of land in rural areas," T. admitted.

“In May this year, I conducted procedures to convert 200 square meters of perennial crop farming land into residential land to [legitimize] the building.”

Nguyen Hoang Tuan, vice-chairman of the An Phuoc Commune, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that T.’s housing project was implemented from 2019 to 2020.

The building was completed long before he asked for the conversion of the land use purpose.

Meanwhile, his restaurant, built on land zoned for perennial crops in December 2021, got a business permit, but failed to get the nod from the local authorities

In addition, T. bought land and illegally constructed a road linked with Provincial Road 902.

“When going past and seeing these structures firmly built on canal banks, I reminded competent forces to check them, but they forgot it,” Tuan claimed.

Nguyen Chi Thien, head of the infrastructure economic bureau in Mang Thit District, said that he had yet to receive any dossiers on the construction of T.’s buildings.

Also, Nguyen Hung Phu, head of the bureau of environment and natural resources in the district, said that his agency was teaming up with local authorities to inspect the two buildings to settle the problem.

“The two buildings were built on both farmland and land for perennial crops, and have no construction certificates,” Phu confirmed.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!