The Latest: Seeking meaningful participation and a transparent record of their feedback, riverside residents began helping one another prepare submissions and preserve records during the first week of public consultation on the plans for the Red River Scenic Boulevard Project.
- Alongside government-organized meetings, residents have held separate evening gatherings to discuss protecting their villages and preserving existing residential areas.
- On Sept. 13, Facebook user ****Duy Thanh posted a video stating that residents of Hạ Trại Village in Long Biên Ward—one of the communities slated for relocation under the Red River Scenic Boulevard Project—had held their own meeting to “prepare to fight” compulsory land acquisition.
Residents’ Actions: Since authorities announced the consultation, residents have created a website titled “10 Points of Feedback on the Red River Plan” to help one another submit comprehensive, coordinated comments.
- The priorities of the website are “putting residents first, on-site resettlement, transparency, fair compensation, sharing gains in land value, and preventing vested interests.”
- The website highlights unresolved or inadequately explained aspects of the government plans. These include the use of the concept of an “urban living room” as a criterion for relocating villages, the absence of a commitment to on-site resettlement in central wards, and a policy of “no population growth through migration” for existing villages alongside projections of 800,000 to 1.2 million new residents.
Residents have also guided one another by posting and sharing advice and ready-made feedback templates.
- In Facebook groups for Red River residents, users have shared tips for submitting comments, which include only accepting forms bearing a red official seal across adjoining pages, obtaining both forms covering the two planning proposals, and recording officials’ responses on video as evidence.
Furthermore, in neighborhood groups on Zalo, residents have encouraged one another to photograph their completed feedback forms and compile images from multiple participants so they can check them against official records later.
Beyond submitting feedback through the Department of Construction’s consultation process, residents in Facebook and Zalo groups have also encouraged one another to send online petitions to National Assembly deputies.
- They hope that their concerns will be raised at the Assembly’s second session, scheduled for October 2026.
Uyển Lê wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on September 14, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
