Long Thanh Airport project needs to ensure site handover schedule

Long Thanh International Airport located in Long Thanh District in Dong Nai Province is a national key project approved by the Government for construction investment in phase 1 with an investment of over VND109.11 trillion and officially started construction on January 5, 2021.

Currently, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has been striving to implement the construction of main categories to ensure the completion time of phase 1 of the project, provided that Dong Nai province has to hand over the site on schedule.

To build Long Thanh International Airport, Long Thanh District People's Committee has approved the plan to compensate and support 5,464 cases out of 5,541 households and individuals, with an area of more than 2,300 out of 2,900 hectares of land and more than 1,900 ha of land used by organizations. Currently, more than 56ha of land of two organizations have not been fully recovered.

Dong Nai Province held the ceremony to hand over the construction site for phase 1 in October 2020. The plan was to hand over the entire 5,000 ha area in the first quarter of 2022, but so far, only 85 percent of the total area has been handed over.

According to Notice No.340/TB-VPCP issued on December 20, 2021, on the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh at the meeting on the implementation of site clearance and investment in the construction of the Long Thanh International Airport, Dong Nai Province must complete the handover of the construction site and grant of land-use right certificate of the entire 1,810 ha and hand over 722 ha of the reserve land area no later than December 31, 2021.

However, according to Chairman of the People's Committee of Long Thanh District Le Van Tiep, so far, the district has only handed over 1,285 out of 1,810 ha of the airport construction site to the ACV. The remaining area will be handed over in the first quarter of 2022. As for the land reserve area, only 194 ha out of 722ha have been handed over. Currently, the project is facing problems in site clearance. By mid-February 2022, there were still 496 cases that compensation plans were available, but people did not agree to receive the money. Noticeably, the project still has 1,030 cases, equivalent to 281.26 hectares, that have not yet approved the compensation plan, mainly due to handwritten transfer paper. Of which, 116 cases transferred or donated the entire land use right, and 633 transferred or donated a part of the land plots without carrying out the land-use rights transfer procedures as prescribed. Recently, at a meeting to solve problems in compensation, support, and resettlement at Long Thanh Airport, Vice Chairman of Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee Vo Tan Duc asked departments, agencies, and the People's Committee of Long Thanh District to urgently speed up the progress of compensation and site clearance. Firstly, for the cases where the compensation and support plan has been approved, but the households have not yet agreed to receive the money, the Long Thanh District People's Committee is assigned to coordinate with the district's associations, mass organizations, and related units to persuade households to receive money and hand over the site to the ACV for the implementation of the project. In case of disagreement, the People's Committee of Long Thanh District will enforce the land acquisition according to regulations in March 2022.

Second, for the reserve area of 722ha of the remaining 142 households that have not been approved the compensation and support plan, the People's Committee of Long Thanh District is assigned to direct the relevant units to urgently complete the dossier as a basis for making the compensation plan right in the first quarter of 2022. Third, for the case of buying, giving, and donating land by handwritten transfer papers, the provincial People's Committee assigns the People's Committee of Long Thanh District to direct the District Land Fund Development Center, the District Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and related units to focus all resources on completing the dossier as a basis for making compensation and support plan, and submit it following regulations. For cases beyond their authority, the leaders of the working groups should summarize and advise the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to report to the Provincial People's Committee to ask the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for guidance on implementation. Currently, units have been constructing the Long Thanh Airport project with the leveling package starting on February 5. The consortium of five contractors is focusing on five construction directions, focusing on construction in the area where the passenger terminal will be built. It is expected that a part of the construction site of the terminal will be handed over at the end of March 2022. As for the office of the Project Management Board, which has now finished leveling the ground on an area of 1.7 ha and is expected to be put into use from March 15, the office includes a 150-seat meeting room, five small meeting rooms, six function rooms, place for site briefings, and canteens, enough space for 250 people to work at the same time. According to Mr. Nguyen Khac Phong, Standing Vice Chairman of Long Thanh Airport Project Management Board, the Government has directed to speed up the construction progress to shorten the completion time of phase 1 in the third quarter of 2025, a quarter earlier than previously planned. Mr. Phong affirmed that the progress of the project was controlled but admitted that the slow handover of the construction site had affected the construction time and construction methods of contractors.