Houses damaged by Da Nang – Quang Ngai Highway construction

Although the road is due to open in September, many parts remain under construction.-Photo zing.vn

In Tinh Ha Commune, Son Tinh District in Quang Ngai Province, more than 250 homes had been affected by the highway. Dinh Thi Kim Anh, a local resident, told the online newspaper zing.vn that steamrollers had caused her house’s foundations to sink.

“Many cracks have appeared on the walls. The rainy season is coming and we don’t know if my house will resist storms and floods,” she said.

Many households affected by the highway construction said that compensation was too low for them to make repairs.

Nguyen Thanh Dinh, deputy head of Tinh Ha Commune People’s Committee, said that the highway investors paid compensation to 151 households of between VND500,000 and 12 million (US$21.5 - 516) each.

“There are 100 more houses damaged yet their owners have not received any compensation,” he said.

Meanwhile in Nui Thanh District in the central province of Quang Nam, among 53 damaged houses, only 22 households accepted the compensation, with the rest saying that the amount of money was too low to repair their houses and demanded another evaluation.

On August 3, Dinh Van Thu, head of Quang Nam Province People’s Committee, asked the Ministry of Transport and Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC) to develop a detailed plan to provide damaged houses with appropriate payments.

Responding to the demand, Transport Minister Nguyen Van The tasked VEC to collaborate with local authorities on evaluating 500 houses in affected areas in Quang Nam Province, Quang Ngai Province and Da Nang City to compensate for damage.

He also asked investors to solve all issues by the end of August in preparation for the road’s opening on September 2.

The project is invested at US$1.64 billion. Of this, $798 million has been loaned from Japan International Co-operation Agency and $590 million from the World Bank. The rest is allocated from the State budget.