Resettlement preparation for Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway project

​
Chairman of Provincial People's Council Thai Bao surveyed the resettlement area in Bien Hoa City

​Arrangement of 4 resettlement areas

Resettlement is determined as an important condition to speed up the progress of site clearance, over the past time, the Provincial People's Committee has directed districts and cities to plan land funds and invest in infrastructure for resettlement areas. The same goes for the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway project.

Currently, Bien Hoa City has selected 2 land locations as resettlement areas for people. It is an area of 49 hectares at Phuoc Tan Ward and nearly 32 hectares at Tam Phuoc Ward. When these 2 resettlement areas are completed, there will be from 2.5 to 3 thousand land lots handed over to people. There are not only enough resettlement arrangements for the expressway project, but also resettlement surpluses for other projects.

Deputy Chairman of Bien Hoa City People's Committee Huynh Tan Loc shared: “The City is urgently completing the procedures to soon implement the two projects above. Beside these projects, the City has more than 400 resettlement plots scattered at the wards. In which, there are about 300 lots within a radius of about 10km which can be solved immediately if people agree to move. In Long Thanh District, one of the two resettlement areas serving this expressway project has been started.

Deputy Chairman of Long Thanh District People's Committee Tran Van Than informed that the resettlement area of nearly 30 hectares at Long Duc commune was started by the district in the last early February, it was expected to complete the infrastructure by the end of 2024. The area of nearly 34 hectares at Long Phuoc commune, the District was adding documents to establish investment procedures.

In fact, in the past time, many projects have been stuck in space, slow schedule and complaints, lawsuits have arisen partly because resettlement has not met the aspirations of the majority of people whose land has been recovered for the project.

At the recent survey of resettlement area serving the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway project, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council Thai Bao said that resettlement was one of the important factors for favorable site clearance. Bien Hoa City People's Committee and Long Thanh District had actively reviewed the land fund in accordance with the general planning, land use planning and proposed specific location for investment in the resettlement area construction. Localities needed to speed up the construction of technical infrastructure and hand over land to people. Along with that, paying attention to invest in social infrastructure, support to introduce jobs to early stabilize lives for people whose land has been recovered.

The resettlement area at Long Duc commune, Long Thanh District held a groundbreaking ceremony

​There are still many problems

Although there have been 4 resettlement areas, according to the departments, agencies, sectors and localities, it is very difficult to immediately start construction. Currently, there is only a quarter of the site has a groundbreaking ceremony, the rest have not yet completed the procedures as prescribed by the Land Law, Forestry Law, and Investment Law.

According to the People's Committee of Bien Hoa City, the two land areas proposed by the City are suitable for planning, but there are still more procedures to follow. Specifically, the land area at Phuoc Tan Ward has not yet made a detailed construction plan 1/500 and submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for approval, and has not yet established the procedures to submit to the Provincial People's Council to decide on the project investment policy. After that, the project must also submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval to change the purpose of using rice land to another land...

As for the project at Tam Phuoc Ward, Dong Nai Food Industry Corporation is managing and using land in the form of land leased by the State with annual payment. The City has asked the company to voluntarily return the land but has not yet agreed and requested to implement land recovery in accordance with the provisions of the Land Law.

For land plots in Long Thanh District, an area related to forestry must submit to the Provincial People's Council to agree on the policy of changing the forest land use purpose to another land. The remaining land area has held a groundbreaking ceremony but has not yet completed the application of prices, publicized the compensation plan, submitted it for appraisal and approval according to regulations.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Que, Deputy Head of the Project Authority of compensation, site clearance and resettlement support of the province said that the site of component 1 project, especially the section through Bien Hoa City was very worried because it took whole year for the process of making resettlement project documents to complete. “The project at Phuoc Tan Ward has both residential land and rice land. For residential land, it is necessary to arrange resettlement for more than 100 households in order to have land for resettlement infrastructure for people whose land has been acquired to implement the expressway project. For rice land, it must be taken out of the planning and submitted to the Prime Minister for decision on the policy of changing the land use purpose," said Mr. Que.

According to the Provincial People's Council, in order to implement the above resettlement projects, the Provincial People's Committee needs to review the order of procedures and legal documents for each project and complete them. For projects that have to be changed land use purpose, compile dossiers and submit to competent authorities for consideration and decision.

Relevant localities actively coordinate with departments, agencies and sectors to complete the procedures, arrange investment capital for building the infrastructure of the resettlement area, ensuring synchronous connection of traffic and social infrastructure.