National Assembly 'approved' 23 trillion VND for site clearance to build Long Thanh airport

The budget has allocated 5,000 billion VND, still lacking 18,000 billion for site clearance and resettlement to build Long Thanh airport.

On the afternoon of June 19, the National Assembly passed a Resolution on separating compensation, support, and resettlement into component projects to implement Long Thanh international airport.

Accordingly, the budget will allocate 23,000 billion VND to spend on the above work, including building infrastructure for 2 resettlement areas and cemeteries. Currently, the budget has allocated 5,000 billion VND in the medium-term public investment plan for project site clearance, meeting 21.7% of the demand; there is still a shortage of about 18,000 billion VND.

Reporting to the National Assembly before voting to approve the Resolution, Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh said that the Government will direct the relevant agencies to prepare a feasibility study report for the component project and develop a specific site clearance plan. This will determine the total official investment amount, which will serve as a basis for the Prime Minister to continue directing the careful preparation of the capital source plan and report to the National Assembly for consideration.

The National Assembly approved the project of site clearance and resettlement of Long Thanh airport project. Photo: Quochoi

"The overload of Tan Son Nhat airport and the increasing demand for air transport make the implementation of the Long Thanh airport project more urgent," Mr. Vu Hong Thanh told the National Assembly.

However, according to him, due to the nature of site clearance work, which often takes a long time, creates difficulties and problems, and increases costs if the implementation process is prolonged, the National Assembly Standing Committee proposed to allow this content to be separated into a component project to be implemented first.

Long Thanh International Airport is a particularly important national project, with an expected capacity of 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo per year, divided into 3 phases. In which, phase one must complete and put into operation a runway, a passenger terminal and synchronous auxiliary items by 2025 at the latest with a capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year.

The resolution recently passed by the National Assembly will help create uniformity in compensation, site clearance and resettlement policies for the construction of Long Thanh airport; limit complaints and lawsuits from the people. In addition, site clearance and resettlement of the entire project (area for all 3 phases) at once will help people in the area feel secure in investing in production and stabilizing their lives.

Regarding the area that has been cleared but has not yet built infrastructure, the National Assembly Standing Committee requested that the competent authorities strictly manage it to avoid encroachment; develop an exploitation plan to avoid land waste and request the Government to clarify this content in the project feasibility study report.

According to VNE