Dong Nai asks for unprecedented site clearance incentives for Long Thanh airport

A perspective of Long Thanh International Airport in southern Dong Nai Province.

Accordingly, the province requested the PM’s approval to separate the site clearance, compensation, and resettlement stages into subproject and hand it over to the province.

Covering an area of 5,000 hectares in the six communes of Binh Son, Suoi Trau, Cam Duong, Long An, Long Phuoc, and Bau Can in Long Thanh district, the construction of the airport, which will become the largest of its kind in Vietnam, will affect about 4,730 households and 15,000 people, besides other organisations, businesses, and religious establishments. Thus, site clearance is a huge challenge for local authorities as they have to hand over at least 2,500 hectares by the beginning of 2019.

According to Dinh Quoc Thai, Chairman of the Dong Nai People’s Committee, by normal procedures, the PM would consider the separation proposals after the National Assembly approves the project’s investment plan, which is expected to fall on mid-2018. However, having to wait until 2018 would hamstring the province in handing over the grounds to the investor on time, effectively preventing the first phase of Long Thanh airport from coming into commercial operation in 2025, as planned.

Besides, the province proposed compensating the first group of residents in 2016, to kick off the construction of two settlement regions, namely Loc An and Binh Son. In addition, Dong Nai expects that the government will license the settlement project before the pre-feasibility study is approved.

Remarkably, Dong Nai asked for the compensation of Dong Nai Rubber Corporation, which has 1,777 hectares located in the airport construction area, at a rate of VND600 million ($26,902) per hectare.

Furthermore, the province also proposed a series of regulations to help pay for children’s tuition and kindergarteners’ lunch who come from households that would be relocated. In addition, each person in the affected area will get a health insurance card for three years.

According to the province’s proposal, Dong Nai will use the VND1 trillion ($44.84 million) surplus fund gained from the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) to build two resettlement areas, at an expected total capital investment of VND5.44 trillion ($243.91 million).

To ensure sufficient funds for the projects, the provincial authorities also asked for permission to issue Government bonds of at least one year terms, adding the interest rate to the project's investment capital.

Long Thanh airport is scheduled to be constructed on an area of 2,750 hectares, accounting for 55 per cent of the total 5,000 hectares revoked for the project. Once it is put into operation in 2025, the airport will meet the 4F standard of the International Civil Aviation Organization, take a huge step towards becoming an international passenger and cargo transit centre in the region.

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