Nhung Nguyen

Last month, my mother happily told me that the drinking water pipelines have been installed in my home village. Before then, the people in the village had to dig groundwater wells or build reservoirs of rainwater. This is one of the greatest changes in my homeland recently. Offering freshwater to the suburban areas and countryside can be seen as one of the significant results of the Doi Moi (Reform) in Vietnam.

Doi Moi and ones left behind

Doi Moi is the name given to an economic reform movement that was initiated in 1986. This marked the previous changes from Soviet’s central planning economic model to the so-called “socialist-oriented market economy”. This led to the significant urbanization and industrialization process in the country, which resulted in the transformation of countryside to suburban in almost all of the city outskirts in Vietnam.

However, in 2015, the construction of water pipelines represents the first time my homeland, a suburban village 15 kilometres away from the administrative boundaries with Hanoi, has benefited after 30 years of the Doi Moi.

The urbanization in Vietnam is slow, is not it?

There were 3 centrally controlled municipalities including Hanoi, Hochiminh City, and Danang and 11 provincial cities in Vietnam in 1986 while there are 5 with Haiphong and Cantho has been added and 67 respectively in 2015. The district-level and commune- level towns have not been mentioned. However, urbanization in the country is known as the process of administrative decision applied by the political leaders, rather than the “regular logic” of urbanization, which is known as the process of the development of infrastructure and cities, leading to the increase of city population. As a consequence, millions of hectares of agricultural land have been mobilized for living, industry and infrastructure. Besides, millions of rural people have technically and administratively become urban citizens after the administrative approvement of the political leaders. However, the citizens in the suburban are one of the most vulnerable groups, especially in terms of economic dimension.

To “upgrade” the suburban and countryside to be the cities, millions of farmers must leave the land where they have plowed for decades. They also have no chance to be trained or improved livelihoods. Many of them, in the middle age, have not been offered new jobs in the manufactures and offices, which are built on the land formerly and primarily used for agriculture. The unemployment rate is always high in the outskirts of the cities; however, it is not yet the worst situation that they have to suffer.

Half urban-half rural and the in-between policies and infrastructure

My village is in Hanam province, one of the most low-lying areas on the Red River Delta. Scientists say that this also the area with the highest proportion of arsenic- contaminated soil and groundwater. Arsenic is known to cause cancer, as well as many other serious health problems. To address these healthy issues in the countryside, some governmental and non-governmental organizations implemented a project of centralized water supply stations. Citizens living in urban areas benefited from fresh water even before the Doi Moi, while those who live in the outskirts of the cities have to wait for 30 years.

It is likely that the development activities focus on either urban or countryside areas while the outskirts of the cities are neglected, so-called in-between policy.

This leads to “in-between infrastructure” situation, known in a wide range of suburban in Vietnam. This situation is exposed not only in the water supply systems but also in the transportation systems in such areas. It is not difficult to find a road with an asphalt segment belonged to the urban territory and a no asphalt segment belonged to the suburban area, which are divided by the administrative boundaries between the two areas. Moreover, the pavement and the road of the cities is made by the government for free, but the road in the suburban is made by the “chip-in” fee from the people.

Hanging meat and starved cats

“Pending land use plan” is known as a phenomenon in the cities in Vietnam, caused by the massive urbanization. In the country, the land is publicly owned. Therefore, individuals are allowed to own the rights of land use. Whenever the government implements a new project, they can confiscate land with a little amount of compensation, especially for the agricultural land. As a consequence, land confiscation is applied to a greater extend to it would be necessary for various cities. Millions of hectares of agriculture land are confiscated from the farmers, acquired by the government and fenced by the companies in order to build industrial zones or high buildings.

However, the global economic crisis in 2008 has results in the widespread lack of capital in the country. Many up-coming projects have been delayed, so-called “pending land use plan”. Last year, there was a young man, who became famous on the media thanks to being wealthy by nurturing cattle in the middle of Hanoi. He owns 200 cows that graze inside the wall of “pending” projects in an urban district. Meanwhile, other city farmers suffer from unemployment. This can be reflected in the Vietnamese motto “hanging meat, starved cats” explaining the situation of cats being prevented from eating available foods in front of its eyes. Thousands of city farmers are forced to find a livelihood on the pavement as small vendors. Furthermore, this leads to other social consequences such as criminals, alcohol addiction, and gambling.

“Urbanization is not about simply increasing the number of urban residents or expanding the area of cities. More importantly, it is about a complete change from rural to urban style in terms of industry structure, employment, living environment and social security” Li Keqiang, the Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China said. However, in the one single party regime, urbanization is fundamentally based on the subjective desire of leaders and administrative decisions. That is why the development of infrastructure and the changes of policies can not keep up the rapid “administrative” urbanization, leading to the in-between situation of the citizens, especially in the outskirts of the cities.