Land seizure, resettlement for Long Thanh airport building discussed

 

Hanoi (VNA) – Legislators on October 27 asked responsible agencies to ensure livelihoods of people displaced by the construction of Long Thanh International Airport in southern Dong Nai province.

They were discussing a feasibility study report on a land seizure, compensation, support, and resettlement project for the building. The debate was part of the ongoing fourth session of the 14th National Assembly (NA) in Hanoi.

The Government reported that the Long Thanh airport construction is of national importance and was planned in 2005. Over the past years, the land use right of residents in the project area has been limited, causing difficulties to their life. The sooner the land seizure, compensation, support and resettlement project is carried out, the better the life and legitimate interests of local people will be ensured.

This project will be implemented at a total cost of more than 23 trillion VND (1 billion USD) covered by the State budget. About 5,585ha of land will be repossessed. The project’s investor, the Dong Nai provincial People’s Committee, built a plan on livelihoods and life stabilisation for relocated people, the Government said.

At group discussions, many NA deputies said draft compensation, support and resettlement plans in the feasibility study report have yet to cover all the ones affected by the land seizure, especially economic organisations such as farms and businesses, religious places of worship and communities. The report should differentiate between compensation and support mechanisms and clarify plans for recovering production activities and income of resettled people.

Le Thanh Van, a deputy of southernmost Ca Mau province, said resettlement areas need to be divided according to groups of residents like urban residents and those with old production activities. It will be hard for farmers to adapt to areas with urban characteristics if they are moved to these places.

Sharing the same view, deputy Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam of Ho Chi Minh City said the area of seized farmland and the number of relocated people working in the agricultural sector are very big. She wondered how their livelihoods will be changed if farmland is not included in resettlement areas.

It is also a problem that whether resettled people can earn their living by the vocations they get training in, she added, asking the Government to clarify how the affected people change their livelihoods.

Tam called on the Cabinet and the parliament to closely monitor the building of resettlement areas. Meanwhile, the land seizure process must take into account public opinions and be done in a transparent and democratic manner.

Deputies Nguyen Quang Tuan and Nguyen Huu Chinh of Hanoi urged careful consideration of the capacity of the Dong Nai People’s Committee in steering project implementation, particularly land repossession, to not cause disagreement in the public. In case the province is not experienced in this field, the Government should lend a hand.

The most important thing is people’s trust in the Party and the State, political stability and social order and safety, they stressed.

Mai Hong Hai, a deputy of Hai Phong city, said the Government should prepare enough 23 trillion VND to ensure the project implementation progress. It also needs to balance the allocation and use of the money for the project.

According to the Dong Nai provincial People’s Committee, more than 15,000 residents will be affected by the airport project, 70 percent of them are farmers and the others are workers at rubber plantations and those with other jobs. To acquire 5,000 ha for the first stage of the airport, 4,730 households and 26 offices will have to be relocated.

Compensation payments are estimated at over 18 trillion VND (792.64 million USD).

The first phase of the airport is scheduled to be completed in 2023 and the final phase in 2050.-VNA