Site clearance and resettlement for Long Thanh International Airport project in the southern province of Dong Nai which is expected to finish within three years and worth at VND11,226 billion (US$503.11 million) concerned experts at a seminar hosted in Hanoi yesterday.
At the seminar hosted by the provincial People’s Committee and some agencies on the project, committee chairman Dinh Quoc Thai said that the first phase would take at least three years to clear 2,750 hectares of land and build Loc An-Binh Son resettlement areas.
Site clearance and compensation must start now for the project to break ground by the end of 2018 or early 2019 as planned, he added.
The Dong Nai People’s Committee has proposed the Prime Minister to separate these works from the big project into a small project and allow it to be implemented independently from this yearend.
Chairman Dinh Quoc Thai said the province has asked the PM for advancing capital in accordance with the project’s progress with the total fund for the first phase approximating VND11,226 billion.
Besides, it has also sought the PM’s permission to appoint contractors to build infrastructures for two resettlement areas Binh Son and Loc An-Binh Son to relocate households from the project’s site timely.
The province has built a policy framework on compensation, resettlement and employment to residents in cleared areas. Compensation level for building land is proposed to be 1.5 fold agricultural land price in the land price list of the Dong Nai People’s Committee. It will be 0.5 fold to agricultural land.
At the seminar, Dr. Tran Du Lich, deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly Delegation, said that besides land of local residents, there is a large area of speculators. Compensation policy should be different for them.
Assistances in resettlement, job training and employment must be studied carefully how to benefit relocated residents, he added.
Referring to the huge fund for the first phase which concerned many experts at the seminar, Dr. Truong Van Phuoc, deputy head of the National Financial Supervisory Commission, suggested bond issue for compensated households.
Deputy head of the Land Management Directorate Dao Trung Chinh said that large projects usually face with complaints about compensation price. Hence, especially large projects such as Long Thanh which affects nearly 4,730 households should call on social attendance to assess land price.
Specifically, residents should be permitted to invite independent and qualified consultant units to be part of a land price assessment council, which will solve petitions objectively too.
In addition, related agencies should map out a route to use the nearly 5,000 hectares of withdrawn land to prevent them from being abandoned causing waste.
