Dong Nai wants funds for airport resettlement

The resettlement areas will be for people being shifted from the site of the international Long Thanh International Airport to be built in 2019. The airport will be the largest in Vietnam. 

The amount is part of the US$5.44 trillion project to build resettlement areas and to compensate for the removal of a cemetery from the airport construction site, according to the province’s estimates. 

To ensure enough funds for the projects, the provincial authorities also asked the Government to issue Government bonds, which should have terms of one year and more, with the interest rate being included in the project’s investment capital. 

About 5,000ha will be cleared in six communes of Binh Son, Suoi Trau, Cam Duong and Long An, besides Long Phuoc and Bau Can in Long Thanh district, to permit the construction of the new airport. This will affect about 4,730 households, comprising 15,000 people, besides other organisations, businesses and religious establishments. 

According to the province’s survey, households and individuals own nearly 3,000ha of the 5,000ha of land. 

Site clearance is a huge challenge for local authorities as they have to hand over at least 2,500ha by the beginning of 2019. The airport’s first phase is scheduled to become operational by 2025. 

Funding for the resettlement plans is part of the province’s proposal for a special mechanism for the project, focusing on land acquisition, compensation and relocation policies as well as the construction of infrastructure for relocation, job training and sources of funding. 

In particular, Dong Nai asked the Government to compensate the Dong Nai Rubber Corporation, which will have to give up 1,777ha for the airport project. About 600 million VND is proposed to be given as compensation for each hectare that is contributed. 

The province also proposed regulations to help pay the school fees of children of households that would be relocated and also the lunch costs for kindergarten children. Each person in the affected areas will get a health insurance card for three years. 

Long Thanh Airport is expected to handle 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of freight per year when it is fully completed by 2050. The first phase, including the construction of a terminal and a runway with a capacity of handling 25 million passengers per year, is expected to be finished in 2025, after several threats of delays. 

It’s expected to ease pressure on the overloaded Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCM City, which has been handling 20 million passengers a year since 2013 and is expected to exceed its maximum capacity of 25 million passengers this year.