The Latest: On June 11, the Hà Nội Party Committee issued Directive No. 16 on strengthening the leadership and direction of party committees at all levels in implementing the Red River Landscape Boulevard investment project.
The committee stated that most residents have shown “high consensus” for the megaproject. Simultaneously, they described the banner-hanging by residents as an activity that “carries potential risks of complications to public security and order.”
State Media Coverage: State media reports on Directive 16 have varied significantly.
- Báo Xây dựng, one of the first outlets to report on the directive, noted that the Hà Nội Party Committee assessed the project as receiving “high consensus” from “the majority of the people.”
- The newspaper reported the committee’s emphasis that there remained “groups and individuals who have not reached consensus,” alongside “crowd gatherings, banner-hanging, and slogan displays that carry potential risks of causing complications to public security and order.”
- Báo Xây dựng remains among the few outlets that still retain the detail regarding “high consensus.”
Conversely, most major newspapers, including Tuổi Trẻ, An ninh Thủ đô, Tiền Phong, and Thanh Niên, published stories on Directive 16 but omitted details concerning “high consensus from the majority of the people” or the “crowd-gathering activities” by “groups that have not reached consensus.”
When the “high consensus” detail was initially reported on the afternoon of June 11, many residents shared the information across Facebook groups related to the Red River Landscape Boulevard project.
- However, by 1 p.m. on June 12, most of these posts had disappeared.
Directive 16 Missing: A reporter from Luật Khoa could not locate the full text of Directive 16 on either the Hà Nội Party Committee portal or the Hà Nội People’s Committee portal.
- The most recent documents published on both platforms date back to May 2026.
The Background: The Red River Landscape Boulevard Project is a strategic megaproject designed to reshape the urban space along the Red River in Hà Nội.
- The development passes through 16 communes and wards in the city and is expected to affect 200,000 residents.
- Land clearance and project implementation have been officially described as an “especially important political task” for the municipality.
Opposition From Residents: Since the project began gaining public attention in early May 2026, residents in the affected areas have fiercely opposed it through various methods.
- These actions include collective petitions, open letters, public appeals, banners, coordinated clothing, and group marches.
- Residents facing clearance have demanded “no complete clearance,” the preservation of existing residential communities, transparency of information, adequate compensation, on-site resettlement, and priority for preserving village and communal culture.
Thus far, their demands have not been satisfactorily addressed.
Why It Matters: In response to the growing public opposition, the Hà Nội government has deployed various measures to urge residents to support the land-clearance plans and to build “social consensus.”
Among them, the city has asked residents to remove banners under the justification of maintaining “urban aesthetics.”
Additionally, the government has established a dedicated communications task force for the Red River Landscape Boulevard project, operating with the primary goal of “orienting communications work.”
Hoàng Nam wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on June 12, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
