Need determination and consensus in land acquisition for Yen Ly intersection overpass

(Baonghean) - Realizing the importance of the project, after 2 working sessions with the locality and related units, the Provincial People's Committee has twice issued a notice concluding the deadline for site clearance for the project to build a different level traffic intersection at the intersection of National Highway 48 with National Highway 1A and the North-South railway (overpass at the Yen Ly - Dien Chau intersection); but, both times Dien Chau district failed to fulfill its commitment to the provincial leaders...

The province gives decisive direction

To speed up the site clearance progress of the project, in Notice No. 545/TB.UBND-GT of the Provincial People's Committee dated October 14, 2014, "Dien Chau People's Committee reports to the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee for direction and mobilization of the entire political system and authorities at all levels to implement the site clearance work to ensure the site clearance progress of the project meets the construction schedule; promptly establish the Project Site Clearance Council; continue to propagate, mobilize, and mobilize the entire political system to accelerate the site clearance work to ensure the completion of site clearance work and handover of the site to the investor according to the above schedule; Submit the compensation price plan for appraisal and approval before March 17, 2015; at the same time, arrange staff to work directly with departments and branches to ensure the decision to approve the compensation price before March 20, 2015; Immediately organize a meeting to direct relevant units to implement the site clearance work, promptly assign for the investor to construct and ensure the completion of the project before May 30, 2015. In particular, the land for the sections passing through rice fields must be handed over before October 30, 2014; at the same time, prioritize land clearance to hand over to the investor who is qualified to carry out the construction of the T4 and T5 pillars. Complete the land clearance work in February 2015. Complete the procedures for submitting the recovery of rice-growing land to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment for inspection to present at the next session of the Provincial People's Council; submit the land price appraisal for the project land clearance before October 10, 2014.

The announcement also emphasized: “For resettlement of affected households: Priority is given to mobilizing people to resettle themselves. In case people do not resettle themselves, select locations and complete planning in October 2014; Direct completion of the extraction and measurement work before October 10, 2014. Adjust resettlement planning to ensure compliance; complete procedures, organize and implement the construction of resettlement areas to ensure compliance with legal regulations, and at the same time speed up the construction progress of this item…”.

The overpass construction project is temporarily suspended because the construction site of the T4 pillar has not been handed over.

Then, on March 16, 2015, Comrade Huynh Thanh Dien, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, inspected and worked on the project's site clearance work, after listening to the report of the BOT QL 1A Cienco4 2-member LLC - Corporation 319 (investor) on the project implementation plan; Report of Dien Chau District People's Committee on the progress of project site clearance, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee concluded: "The project of the different-level intersection at the intersection between National Highway 48 and National Highway 1 and the North-South railway is an important project, the province is very interested in directing to ensure the construction progress for the investor... Currently, the Investor is focusing on human resources, equipment, and vigorously implementing the construction to ensure the project is completed and technically opened to traffic on May 19, 2015, so it is necessary to speed up the site clearance progress of the remaining sections to hand over to the investor in time according to the following specific schedule: Construction site of pier T4: completed before March 30, 2015; the bridge approach road section Km0+00 - Km 0+28 (west of National Highway 1) and the section from Km 950-Km 1+243.25 (east of National Highway 1) completed before May 19, 2015. April 15, 2015”.

Thus, right from the project implementation and during the construction process, the Provincial People's Committee has always closely monitored the progress and highly requested the local authorities and relevant parties to speed up the site clearance progress, so that the project can be constructed on schedule.

LOCALITIES NEED TO BE MORE ACTIVE!

Although the province directed so strongly, in reality, until April 3, 2015, the Land Acquisition Council had only handed over to the investor 42% of the construction site volume (520m/1,243m) of the main route (not including the branches of the intersection), which is mainly rice fields.

Regarding compensation, as of April 3, 2015, only 21 households (affected on agricultural land) have received compensation out of a total of 72 households affected by the project, including 43 households affected on residential land (including 18 households subject to resettlement), and 29 households affected on agricultural land. As of April 3, 2015, important locations of the project such as the construction site of the T4 pillar (pillar to launch the overpass beam over National Highway 1A), the intersection between National Highway 48 and the overpass approach road, and the intersection from National Highway 1A to the overpass approach road have not been cleared and the site handed over to the construction unit. At these locations, households subject to relocation and resettlement are still living normally and have not yet agreed on a compensation plan.

Location 2 - resettlement site for 3 households that had to redraw lots

The connection location of the overpass approach road and National Highway 48 has not yet been constructed.

The planned resettlement location for 18 households with 42 plots of land on National Highway 48 has not yet begun infrastructure construction (photo taken on April 3, 2015).

Talking to Nghe An Newspaper reporters, a representative of the Project Management Board said: “The level of interest of the local government in site clearance work is not satisfactory. This leads to the delay of site clearance. The contractor wants to speed up the project progress but has to give up because there is no construction site. We have mobilized all motorbikes and workers (about 150 people), and we will construct as soon as we have the site, but up to now (April 3, 2015), the project has stopped construction of the main items for nearly 3 months, causing great damage and waste to the contractor and the project is also very difficult to complete as planned”...

Resettlement planning location 1

Thus, to ensure the project progress, it is necessary to speed up the site clearance progress, and to do so, it is very important to support compensation and resettlement for affected households. According to the investigation of Nghe An Newspaper reporters, out of 72 affected households in the project area, 18 households are required to be relocated to a new resettlement site. To serve the resettlement work, on March 9, 2015, the People's Committee of Dien Chau district issued Notice No. 24/TB-UBND "On land recovery to implement the resettlement area planning to serve the construction investment project", the land recovered for resettlement arrangement includes 2 locations: Location 1 in the hill area of ​​hamlet 5, Dien Yen commune with a total area of ​​16,300m2 (this location is planned for 42 residential plots) and location 2 in Hoang Chua area, hamlet 5, Dien Yen commune with an area of ​​5,100m2 (not including 1 location requesting on-site resettlement of Ms. Pham Thi Phuong's household).

The planning of resettlement area being too large compared to the resettlement needs also leads to more problems in compensation for households whose agricultural land is recovered for resettlement... In addition, at resettlement location No. 2, after 3 households finished drawing lots, just a few days later, the Compensation and Resettlement Council of Dien Chau district notified these 3 households to draw lots again elsewhere; but according to the explanation of the leaders of the Compensation and Resettlement Council, it is because at this resettlement location No. 2, the people have not agreed to the recovery plan...

Explaining the expansion of resettlement sites, the leaders of Dien Yen commune and Dien Chau district said: the purpose of arranging resettlement sites in many locations is to allow people to choose a new place to live that suits their conditions (?!). However, in reality, arranging many resettlement sites will increase the budget for infrastructure construction in the resettlement area, the time for implementing the land clearance work in the resettlement area will also be extended, plus the need to redraw lots has led to doubts about the transparency in the work of preparing resettlement projects. And in fact, up to the afternoon of April 7, 2015, at the planned resettlement sites, infrastructure construction has not yet been implemented.

The connection location between National Highway 1A and the approach road to the overpass has not been cleared yet.

The local government explained that the suspension of compensation support work for land acquisition and clearance was due to many items arising in the measurement and inventory of assets and land of affected households. Most of the affected households along the route have current areas that are different from the areas listed in the Land Use Right Certificates, so it is necessary to have time to verify the land use origin of the households and have high consensus from the people for the government to have a basis to approve the compensation plan. However, it was not until April 3, 2015 that the local government conducted an appraisal of the area that was different from the Land Use Right Certificates of 5 households at the T4 bridge pier. According to the investigation, households in the affected area said that the asset inventory work had been going on since November 2014, but until April 3, 2015, some households still did not know the compensation price!

Thus, the Provincial People's Committee has extended the land acquisition deadline for the project twice (first time, land acquisition must be completed before February 2015; second time, land acquisition must be completed before March 30, 2015) but Dien Chau district has not been able to do so. The technical traffic opening deadline of the project on May 19, 2015 is approaching. To open the technical traffic, at least the overpass girder must be launched over National Highway 1A on the T4 pier, but up to now, the land acquisition for the T4 pier position has not been completed as stated. With such a land acquisition schedule, representatives of the contractor and the locality have both admitted that it is very difficult to complete the project on schedule.

It is known that land acquisition and clearance work is always a "hot spot", but with the participation of the entire political system and the consensus of the people, it will eventually be completed on schedule, such as the project to upgrade and expand National Highway 1A in the province that has been implemented recently. If there is no drastic solution and lack of transparency, any project will face many difficulties. In order for the overpass project connecting National Highway 48 with National Highway 1A and the North-South railway to be quickly completed and put into use, it is necessary to have the drastic participation of the Dien Yen commune government, the leaders of Dien Chau district and the district's Land Acquisition and Clearance Council. During the implementation process, the relevant parties must both agree on a plan to compensate for land and property, make timely payments, and quickly deploy infrastructure construction at the resettlement project so that people can soon start building houses in their new homes.

Currently, the leaders of Dien Chau district and the District Compensation Council are making efforts to speed up the project's progress, so the households directly affected also need to create conditions, cooperate with the government and contractors, and hand over the site to the construction unit as soon as possible; contribute to completing the project on schedule, to "benefit both the country and the family", so that households can soon stabilize their lives, not having to live in dusty and noisy conditions, the contractor does not have to waste money because of having to prolong the construction time, the province has another modern traffic project, eliminating the "black spot" at the intersection of National Highway 48 with National Highway 1A and the North-South railway, promoting the socio-economic development of the locality and the province.

PV Group