Speeding up disbursement progress of North-South expressway project

The North-South Expressway project through Nghe An province is about 87.84 km long, including 2 sub-projects: Nghi Son - Dien Chau section and Dien Chau - Bai Vot section, passing through Hoang Mai town and the districts: Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, Dien Chau, Nghi Loc and Hung Nguyen. The number of resettled households is about 697 households. Total cost of site clearance: 2,191 billion VND (Nghi Son - Dien Chau section: 1,033 billion VND; Dien Chau - Bai Vot section: 1,088 billion VND).

Slow disbursement progress

According to the Department of Transport, in the past time, the People's Committees of the districts have carried out the work of compensation, support and resettlement of the project. Up to now, some districts and towns have completed some tasks such as: extracting and measuring; selecting resettlement sites, completing the inventory of agricultural land in some communes, reviewing public works (electricity, VNPT telecommunications). However, the localities have not focused strongly, the implementation progress is still slow compared to the set plan.

Attending the meeting were leaders of localities: Hoang Mai Town, Dien Chau, Hung Nguyen, Yen Thanh and representatives of relevant departments, branches, Project Management Board 6 (Ministry of Transport).Photo: Thu Huyen

Up to now, Project Management Board 6 has transferred 500 billion VND to localities but has only disbursed 23.95 billion VND. Although localities have set up an expected schedule and committed to disbursing all the allocated funds by December 31, 2019, according to the actual situation, some localities may not be able to disburse all the allocated funds such as: Hoang Mai Town, Dien Chau.

Mr. Nguyen Duc An - Deputy Director of Department of Transport

The reason is that up to now, the approval of the work of extracting and measuring; specific land prices for agricultural land have not been completed; the resettlement project has not been approved (Dien Chau has not approved the detailed planning 1/500); the plan for relocating technical infrastructure works has not been approved, and is requesting policies for other support; Hung Nguyen District has not completed all the measurements and specific land prices; the resettlement project has not been approved; the plan for relocating technical infrastructure works has not been approved.

Deputy Director of the Department of Transport Nguyen Duc An said that the disbursement progress is currently slow, and requested localities to disburse compensation funds for site clearance according to the capital plan allocated in 2019. Photo: Thu Huyen

Urgently complete disbursement work as planned

According to the Steering Committee for Land Acquisition and Clearance of the Expressway Project, the set target for the section passing through agricultural land is: Handing over the site in December 2019; for the section passing through residential land and gardens but not subject to resettlement: Handing over the site in March 2020; For the section passing through residential land and gardens requiring resettlement: Handing over the site in June 2020 (completing construction of resettlement areas in April 2020).

North-South Expressway route through Nghe An. Photo: Archive

In order to carry out compensation, support and resettlement work to ensure project progress requirements and the set plan, the Steering Committee for Site Clearance and Resettlement of the North-South Expressway Project requests the Provincial People's Committee to direct departments, branches, People's Committees of districts and towns to urgently inspect and review the detailed implementation progress plan, make a plan to disburse compensation funds for site clearance and resettlement in accordance with actual progress, and complete the disbursement work before December 31, 2019 as prescribed.

If any locality fails to complete the disbursement work according to the capital plan that has been arranged, and the capital is recovered, it must take full responsibility. In particular, the section through Hoang Mai town, Dien Chau, and Hung Nguyen must be focused on and implemented resolutely.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh spoke at the meeting. Photo: Thu Huyen

After listening to the opinions of localities, departments, branches, and Project Management Board 6 (Ministry of Transport), concluding the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh emphasized: In order to carry out compensation, support and resettlement work to ensure the project's progress and the proposed plan, localities are requested to promptly, fully, in the correct order and on schedule the work of preparing records, notifying land recovery, appraising plans, recovering land, approving compensation plans in accordance with regulations and handing over the site to ensure progress.

The North-South Expressway has had its funding approved by the National Assembly for construction. Illustrative photo.

Urgently review resettlement subjects, invest in building infrastructure for resettlement areas to serve households affected by the project; the plan to relocate technical infrastructure works only relocates works affected by the project, establish works with techniques equivalent to existing works, ensuring savings and efficiency.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh also requested that during the project implementation, departments and branches should promptly guide localities on compensation policies for land acquisition, resettlement, etc. Project Management Board 6 needs to coordinate with districts and towns to receive the land acquisition area handed over by localities. There should be a plan to manage the area of ​​land that has been handed over, avoiding cases of households re-encroaching during the project implementation process...

Faced with the possibility that some districts such as Hung Nguyen will not be able to disburse the entire 200 billion VND, while Dien Chau or Quynh Luu will not have enough capital to pay for the recovery of agricultural land, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Hong Vinh requested Project Management Board 6 to report to the Ministry of Transport to allow Nghe An province to transfer the allocated funds among localities; at the same time, give the province a time frame to be able to carry out the capital adjustment.