Dien Chau, Hung Nguyen, and Hoang Mai are still behind schedule in site clearance for the North-South Expressway.

On the afternoon of June 18, the Provincial People's Committee held a meeting to urge the site clearance for the North-South Expressway through Nghe An. Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the meeting. Attending the meeting were representatives of leaders of sectors and localities where the route passes through.

Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the meeting. Photo: Lam Tung

According to the plan, for the section passing through agricultural land, the Provincial People's Committee requires site clearance to be completed before May 10, 2020.For sections passing through residential land and gardens but not subject to resettlement,The Provincial People's Committee requires site clearance to be completed before May 30, 2020.For the section passing through residential land and gardens, resettlement must be arranged, requiring the entire site to be handed over before August 30, 2020. Complete construction of resettlement areas before June 30, 2020.

Dien Chau district leader - Mr. Le Manh Hien reported on problems in the area. Photo: Lam Tung

However, according to reports from the districts, most of them are slow. The reason is that, during the resettlement planning process, most households requested compensation in the form of land, did not receive money, requested land for land (including garden land) and requested to recover and compensate for land and assets in the traffic safety corridor (in Dien Chau, Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc districts). In some cases, land was allocated without authority, there were receipts for land use fees but it is not clear whether they paid enough or not to deduct financial obligations (in Hoang Mai town, Dien Chau district).

In addition, some households had all their residential land recovered, but already had other residential land and houses in the same area where the land was recovered, according to regulations, they were not allowed to resettle. In essence, this household bought land for their children to live separately and had not built a house. If following the instructions, it should be taken from local land funds (land auctioned, appraised...) but the households did not agree and requested to exchange the land into the resettlement area (in Hoang Mai town, Nghi Loc district, Dien Chau).

On the other hand, the land price between the place of departure and the place of destination in some communes is expected to have a large difference, in cases where children are over 18 years old but not yet married, households requesting resettlement land (about 20 households in Nghi Loc district).

Regarding resettlement areas, many districts are slow in implementing infrastructure construction, affecting the progress of handing over resettlement land, especially Hoang Mai, Dien Chau and Hung Nguyen towns where construction has not yet begun.

After listening to the reports from the districts and sectors, Comrade Le Hong Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the localities to review the total amount of land acquisition, clearance plan and disbursement progress for the project; Reconstruct the progress of land acquisition for the section through agricultural land, residential land, garden land that does not have to be resettled and approve the relocation of technical infrastructure works to report to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration and decision. Request to complete before June 30, 2020.

The Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested to speed up resettlement construction procedures, complete construction and hand over land to households before August 30, 2020, and criticized some districts for slow disbursement and slow construction of resettlement areas.

Map of the North-South expressway through Hoang Mai town. Photo courtesy

The North-South Expressway is a key project and has allocated capital. The Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the districts to focus on site clearance work and not let the problem drag on for a long time. He directed the communes to focus on work immediately after the Party Congress. Urgently bid for construction and support people in relocation work to ensure the province's plan. Regarding the relocation of power lines, the Power Transmission Corporation should be assigned as the investor to ensure faster progress. Districts with specific problems should send separate documents to the Provincial People's Committee to resolve.

The North-South Expressway project through Nghe An province is about 87.84 km long. Of which: The section through agricultural land is about 79.31 km (90%); The section through residential land is about 8.53 km (10%). The capital allocated for the project is 1,891.5 billion VND, the capital plan for 2020 is 1,195 billion VND.

Currently, 87.54/87.84 km of approved measurements have been extracted and approved, reaching 99.66%. The remaining agricultural land is 0.1 km of Hung Tay commune and 0.2 km of Hung Phu commune.

Regarding the approved compensation plan, it reached 1,035.82 billion VND, reaching 54.8% of the allocated capital. Localities have paid 869.497 billion VND, reaching 46% of the allocated capital.

By June 18, the province had cleared about 72.6/87.84 km, reaching 82.65%. Of which: Agricultural land 72.6/79.31 km, reaching 91.53% (6.71 km remaining); Residential land, garden land 3.47 km, residential land to be resettled 5.06 km not yet cleared.