Removing obstacles in site clearance for Coastal Road Project

As a key project of the province, the Coastal Road Project Phase 2 connecting Nghi Son (Thanh Hoa) to Cua Lo (Nghe An) is over 64 km long, and is expected to be technically open after 2 years of construction. However, up to now, the site clearance work has encountered many difficulties, which need to be resolved by the localities in order to promptly hand over the site for construction on schedule.

PROBLEMS

Quynh Bang Commune is one of the nine communes of Quynh Luu District that is most affected by the Coastal Road Project. The entire commune has 452 households with nearly 700 plots of land passing through nearly 3.2 km of the project. Although the commune got involved early, the handover of the site to the construction unit is still facing many difficulties.

Construction of the Coastal Road Project through Quynh Bang Commune, Quynh Luu District. Photo: Thanh Le

Mr. Ho Dinh Vinh - Head of Tan Giang Hamlet, Quynh Bang Commune said: The hamlet has 101 households affected by the Coastal Road Project, including 2 resettled households. When the project was implemented, the people agreed.

However, compensation and site clearance are slow because some households have not yet separated their land registration books after separating their land titles, some households have gone to work far away and have not yet signed confirmation documents, and a few are still in disputes between siblings. In addition, compensation payments to people are still slow. To speed up site clearance, it is necessary to set prices and pay people promptly...

After a period of drastic action, up to now, Quynh Bang commune still has nearly 100 plots of land that have not been agreed by the people to hand over the land to the coastal road construction unit. The locality explained the delay as being due to problems in determining the origin of the land, the increase in population and the price not being suitable to the market reality.

Officials of the Provincial Traffic Project Management Board discussed with Mr. Ho Dinh Vinh - Head of Tan Giang Hamlet, Quynh Bang Commune about site clearance work. Photo: Thanh Le

According to Mr. Vu Van Duong - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Bang commune, the commune currently has nearly 70 households/452 households with nearly 100 plots/700 plots of land still stuck. In fact, the problems of local households are very different, that is due to disputes, some households are stuck because they are working far away and have not been able to sign documents, some households are in the process of pricing related to population, some households are related to architectural works that are being reviewed and counted, some households have incorrect areas that are being proposed for measurement.

"We classify and specifically resolve all those problems. On the one hand, the locality focuses on doing a good job of propaganda and explanation so that people understand clearly, at the same time confirm the origin of the land, resolve problems, confirm the population and household registration to ensure the rights of the people and soon hand over the site for the project" - Mr. Duong affirmed.

Speed ​​up land acquisition progress

The Coastal Road Project passes through 6 wards and communes of Hoang Mai town with a length of 9.42 km (of which, agricultural land is 7.21 km; residential land and garden land is 1.17 km; forestry land is 0.94 km and production and business land is 0.1 km).

To implement the Coastal Road Project, Hoang Mai town has been very determined from the beginning and has implemented it synchronously and systematically to hand over the site to the investor as soon as possible. Up to this point, the town has handed over nearly 40% of the site to the project investor.

Encroachment problems in Quynh Lien and Quynh Xuan communes (Hoang Mai town). Photo: Thanh Le

Tamarind field of Quynh Lien commune (Hoang Mai town), where more than 70 plots of land have not been priced, causing difficulties in handing over the land to the investor to construct the coastal road.

Although located within the administrative boundaries of Quynh Lien commune, for decades the cultivation here has been mostly done by the people of Quynh Xuan ward. Due to the lack of clarity in boundary management, there have been some problems related to inventory and determination of land origin to determine compensation prices for the people...

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thi - a resident of Quynh Xuan ward (Hoang Mai town) said: Since I was a child and followed my parents here, I have grown rice, corn, and peanuts here. Although later on, we changed land several times, from the land up there to here, or from the other side to this side, it was all Quynh Xuan people who cultivated it.

Vice Chairman of Hoang Mai Town People's Committee - Comrade Pham Van Hao said: During the implementation process in Hoang Mai town, there were some problems related to the invasive production of Quynh Lien and Quynh Xuan communes.

Construction of Nha Le canal bridge connecting Quynh Loc commune with Quynh Di ward (Hoang Mai town). Photo: Thanh Le

The town has presided over and worked with relevant parties on this issue. The town's viewpoint on the issue of encroachment on land within the administrative boundaries of a commune is that the commune must preside over it and the commune with citizens engaged in encroachment must coordinate to determine the relevant issues regarding the origin and allocated land fund to calculate the land recovery rate.

Up to this point, the problem of encroachment in the two communes of Quynh Lien and Quynh Xuan is being finalized with documents on pricing and payment to households to soon hand over the land to the investor.

The coastal road project from Nghi Son (Thanh Hoa) to Cua Lo (Nghe An) from Km7 - Km76 has a total route length of 64.47 km, of which, the site clearance is 59.9 km (due to 4.56 km overlapping D4 and QL46) passing through Hoang Mai town, Quynh Luu district, Dien Chau district, Nghi Loc district and Cua Lo town. Total number of affected land plots: 4,963 plots.

It is expected that this route will be technically open after 2 years of construction. However, up to now, site clearance work has encountered many difficulties, affecting the construction progress and investment capital disbursement, while construction has been underway since February 2022.

According to the investor, up to now, the land acquisition work for the Coastal Road Project has only completed more than 40% of the volume. In particular, some districts and towns are still very slow in measuring, inventorying, pricing, and approving compensation payments for agricultural land, including overlapping and encroached land, to hand over the site to the construction unit.

To speed up the progress of the Coastal Road Project, in addition to the need for localities to speed up the handover of clean land to investors, it is also necessary for construction units to properly implement their construction progress commitments. Photo: Thanh Le

Deputy Director of the Provincial Traffic Project Management Board - Mr. Hoang Quoc Khanh said: If the land acquisition and clearance work for agricultural and residential land is behind schedule compared to the original plan, it will greatly affect the construction progress and disbursement progress of the project.

Regarding this issue, the Department of Transport has advised the province to have a plan to direct districts and towns to mobilize the local political system to participate in the most drastic and synchronous manner so that people understand and have high consensus for the meaningful purpose of building the road as well as the capital that the Central and local governments have arranged for this project, and to have the highest consensus to hand over the site as soon as possible so that the project can be completed on schedule.