Land clearance for Highway 7 upgrade project is in disarray.

Many bottlenecks

The project to renovate and upgrade National Highway 7, section Km0 - Km36, and handle landslides caused by storms and floods in the Khe Thoi - Nam Can section, was approved by the Ministry of Transport in Decision No. 333/QD-BGTVT dated March 18, 2022. The project has a total investment of more than 1,300 billion VND, with a total length of 27.5km passing through Dien Chau, Yen Thanh and Do Luong districts.

The project is divided into 3 construction packages, including: XD01; XD02; XD03 with a total value of 778,724 billion (including contingency costs). According to the report of Project Management Board 4 - Representative of the project investor, by the end of half of July 2024, the construction value reached 531,603/714,785 billion VND (excluding contingency costs), reaching a rate of 74.37%. Of which, package XD01 achieved an output of 189,676/261,124 billion VND; package XD02 achieved an output of 123,890/178,204 billion VND; and package XD03 achieved an output of 218,037/275,456 billion VND.

Currently, the disbursed capital for the project in 2024 is 102,256 billion VND, of which the site clearance cost is 80,285 billion VND; Construction and installation is 21,971 billion VND; along with some consulting and project management costs...

However, by the end of mid-July, localities had handed over about 52.844km/55.405km of land (reaching 95.37%), including both left and right routes. Of which, Dien Chau district still has about 1.2km of land; Yen Thanh about 1.092km and Do Luong still has about 200m of land that has not been handed over.

The section passing through Dien Chau district, including both sides of the route, is 18.36km long, passing through Dien Chau town and the communes of Dien Thanh, Dien Phuc, Dien Cat and Minh Chau. Currently, except for Dien Chau town, which does not have to reclaim land because the scope of the GPMB marker placement does not affect the residential land plots of households and individuals, the remaining communes are all stuck with land clearance.

In Minh Chau commune, there are still 12/77 plots of land that have not been handed over. The reason is that households request compensation for land areas outside the land use right certificates, and claim compensation for the land areas that were illegally transferred within the traffic corridor but have not been granted certificates.

In Dien Cat commune, there are still 20/108 plots of land in hamlets 2B and 4, which are still stuck with the site clearance. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huy - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said that in the 20 cases where the site clearance is still stuck, there are 3 households whose land is related to the National Highway 7 Upgrade and Expansion Project implemented in 2011, which had land recovered but only compensated for property, and the area of ​​the people did not change. There were 8 households that had cut off the traffic corridor before transferring or donating, and the remaining 9 households still had enough area as in the certificate, the cleared part was on the traffic corridor, but the households still refused to hand over the site.

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The commune has also established propaganda and mobilization teams, but households still do not comply. Therefore, the commune has requested the district to come up with a construction protection plan for clear cases to speed up the progress of handing over the site to the construction unit.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Huy - Chairman of Dien Cat Commune People's Committee

In Dien Chau district, there is also a railway overpass project that passes through Dien Phuc commune that has yet to be completed. According to the design, this overpass has 2 lanes and 8 spans. However, according to our observations, the eastern piers of the railway have been installed, but the western side of the railway has not yet been installed, and the construction of some piers is still unfinished. Because it is located right in the middle of National Highway 7, this location has caused serious traffic congestion, especially when the number of vehicles passing here to get to the North-South Expressway increases dramatically.

In Yen Thanh district, the localities with the most land acquisition problems are Vien Thanh commune with about 10 plots and My Thanh commune with 38 plots (as of mid-July). Or in Do Luong district, although on June 18, 2024, the District Compensation and Site Clearance Council protected the construction of 9 households in Luu Son commune. However, up to this point, according to the investor's report, these 9 households are still obstructing and have not yet handed over the land area to construct a 2m wide sidewalk.

Late again

Mr. Hoang Van Chau - Deputy Director of Project Management Board 4 said that although the land acquisition work of the districts has changed and achieved some results. However, the progress of land acquisition is still slow, despite the strong direction of the Provincial People's Committee. This affects the progress of project completion.

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Due to the discontinuous handover, there are sections where only one household can be handed over with a road-facing length of about 10m, making it very difficult to bring in machinery and equipment for construction.

Mr. Hoang Van Chau - Deputy Director of Project Management Board 4

In fact, the Provincial People's Committee has organized many meetings, issued many directive documents, assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to preside, established an interdisciplinary team to guide the locality and most recently directed by the Provincial People's Committee in Notice No. 454/TB-UBND dated June 18, 2024. However, the results of compensation and site clearance work in the districts where the project passes through have not met the requirements, affecting the overall progress of the project and the disbursement of capital by the Investor.

Faced with the delay in handing over the site, affecting the overall progress of the project, on July 22, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued Official Dispatch No. 6112/UBND-CN on resolving the existing problems and difficulties related to compensation and site clearance for the National Highway 7 Upgrade Project, sent to relevant departments, branches and localities.

Accordingly, the Provincial People's Committee requests the People's Committees of districts where the project passes through to coordinate with the Investor and seriously implement the instructions of the Provincial People's Committee. Mobilize the entire political system to participate in propagating and mobilizing people to comply with the State's guidelines and policies, making people understand the importance and significance of the project and agree to implement it. Along with that, focus resources and human resources to complete the contents of compensation work for site clearance in July 2024.

For the People's Committee of Dien Chau district, the Provincial People's Committee requested that priority be given to handing over the land to the households of Mr. Nguyen Van Duyen, Mr. Nguyen Van Linh and Mr. Cao Van Khoa on the left side of National Highway 7, west of the railway, to have enough time to construct the railway overpass (this is the critical path of the project) according to the schedule extended by the Ministry of Transport (November 2024).

At the same time, mobilize and protect the construction of sections that are being obstructed by people, including the sections passing through the communes of Dien Thanh, Dien Phuc, Dien Cat, and Minh Chau; to be completed no later than July 2024.

In Yen Thanh district, the Provincial People's Committee requested the locality to direct communes to be more active and determined in mobilizing people to hand over land, especially households that have been dialogued with the District People's Committee and have clearly concluded the results of compensation and support.

For some households that are not eligible for compensation or have land according to the measurement not affected by the project scope, but have not yet handed over the site, it is recommended that the District People's Committee focus on organizing mobilization and protecting construction; to complete no later than July 2024.

Particularly for Do Luong district, because there is only about 200m left to go through the land plot of Mr. Nguyen Tat Thuong's family (Hoa Son commune). Therefore, the People's Committee of Do Luong district needs to develop a plan to enforce land recovery in this case to hand over the site to the construction unit, to be completed in July 2024.

In addition, the Provincial People's Committee also directed relevant departments and branches to closely coordinate with the People's Committees of districts, investors... to provide guidance within their authority or advise the Provincial People's Committee on solutions to completely resolve existing problems and difficulties.

However, the deadline assigned by the Provincial People's Committee has passed, and the site clearance for the National Highway 7 renovation and upgrading project is still in disarray. It is time for local authorities to be more decisive in site clearance work. If they continue to miss the deadline, it will greatly affect many aspects, from environmental sanitation, traffic safety to the risk of having to narrow the project...