Hanoi (VNA) – Legislators on October 27 asked
responsible agencies to ensure livelihoods of people displaced by the
construction of Long Thanh International Airport in southern Dong Nai province.
They were discussing a feasibility study report
on a land seizure, compensation, support, and resettlement project for the
building. The debate was part of the ongoing fourth session of the 14th
National Assembly (NA) in Hanoi.
The Government reported that the Long Thanh
airport construction is of national importance and was planned in 2005. Over
the past years, the land use right of residents in the project area has been
limited, causing difficulties to their life. The sooner the land seizure,
compensation, support and resettlement project is carried out, the better the
life and legitimate interests of local people will be ensured.
This project will be implemented at a total cost
of more than 23 trillion VND (1 billion USD) covered by the State budget. About
5,585ha of land will be repossessed. The project’s investor, the Dong Nai
provincial People’s Committee, built a plan on livelihoods and life
stabilisation for relocated people, the Government said.
At group discussions, many NA deputies said
draft compensation, support and resettlement plans in the feasibility study
report have yet to cover all the ones affected by the land seizure, especially
economic organisations such as farms and businesses, religious places of
worship and communities. The report should differentiate between compensation
and support mechanisms and clarify plans for recovering production activities
and income of resettled people.
Le Thanh Van, a deputy of southernmost Ca Mau
province, said resettlement areas need to be divided according to groups of
residents like urban residents and those with old production activities. It
will be hard for farmers to adapt to areas with urban characteristics if they
are moved to these places.
Sharing the same view, deputy Nguyen Thi Quyet
Tam of Ho Chi Minh City said the area of seized farmland and the number of
relocated people working in the agricultural sector are very big. She wondered
how their livelihoods will be changed if farmland is not included in resettlement
areas.
It is also a problem that whether resettled
people can earn their living by the vocations they get training in, she added,
asking the Government to clarify how the affected people change their
livelihoods.
Tam called on the Cabinet and the parliament to
closely monitor the building of resettlement areas. Meanwhile, the land seizure
process must take into account public opinions and be done in a transparent and
democratic manner.
Deputies Nguyen Quang Tuan and Nguyen Huu Chinh
of Hanoi urged careful consideration of the capacity of the Dong Nai People’s
Committee in steering project implementation, particularly land repossession,
to not cause disagreement in the public. In case the province is not
experienced in this field, the Government should lend a hand.
The most important thing is people’s trust in
the Party and the State, political stability and social order and safety, they
stressed.
Mai Hong Hai, a deputy of Hai Phong city, said
the Government should prepare enough 23 trillion VND to ensure the project
implementation progress. It also needs to balance the allocation and use of the
money for the project.
According to the Dong Nai provincial People’s
Committee, more than 15,000 residents will be affected by the airport project,
70 percent of them are farmers and the others are workers at rubber plantations
and those with other jobs. To acquire 5,000 ha for the first stage of the
airport, 4,730 households and 26 offices will have to be relocated.
Compensation payments are estimated at over 18
trillion VND (792.64 million USD).
The first phase of the airport is scheduled to
be completed in 2023 and the final phase in 2050.-VNA