The planned area of the Long Thanh international airport in Dong Nai Province could be cut by half as part of a plan to revise down the cost of this megaproject in the southern province.
The planned area of the Long Thanh international airport in Dong Nai Province could be cut by half as part of a plan to revise down the cost of this megaproject in the southern province.
The province said at a meeting on site clearance, compensation and resettlement for the project last Friday that Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has informed of the Ministry of Transport’s plan to adjust down the project’s area from 5,000 hectares to 2,750 hectares.
The 2,750 hectares will be for key components of the project while those for defense purposes and the civil aviation industry will not be taken in account in the project’s total area when funding is projected given concerns about the country’s rising public debt, according to ACV.
With the area adjustment, Dong Nai Province has drawn up two site clearance plans, heard the meeting.
Under the first plan, the project would require US$18.7 billion for the development of three phases in an area of 5,000 hectares, and site clearance and resettlement would cost over VND13 trillion.
Dong Nai Province has zoned two resettlement areas with Loc An-Binh Son covering 282.35 hectares and Binh Son 282.3 hectares for the households affected by the project. The cost of these resettlement areas is put at VND5.39 trillion funded by the State budget.
With the second plan for 2,750 hectares, the investment of the airport project is lowered to about US$15.8 billion and the province will need around VND8.56 trillion for site clearance and resettlement.
Loc An-Binh Son resettlement area alone will meet the resettlement demand in accordance with the second plan. The resettlement area would cost about VND2.7 trillion, also sourced from the State budget.
The province will arrange jobs at industrial parks for those people whose land is taken back to make room for the airport project.
Dong Nai will have 35 industrial parks covering a total area of 12,012 hectares in line with the master zoning plan for industrial parks until 2015 and a vision towards 2020 approved by the Government. Of the total number, 31 have been developed in the province.
The province estimated around 61,530 jobs would be created when infrastructure development of the four remaining industrial parks is finished.
Besides, implementation of the Long Thanh airport project would need 20,000 laborers, with unskilled accounting for around 75%. Therefore, the province expected sufficient jobs would be provided for the families whose land is cleared for the airport.
Tran Van Vinh, vice chairman of Dong Nai Province, said the province has virtually finished procedures for the resettlement areas. Once the National Assembly approves the airport project, the province will propose dividing site clearance and resettlement into a sub-project for the province to carry out.
The drafting of policies related to site clearance, resettlement, vocational training and job creation for locals will be completed next month for submission to the Government for consideration and approval.
As envisaged, the international airport would have one runway and one terminal able to handle 25 million passengers per year in the first phase. The airport is designed for 100 million passengers annually.
(Source:SGT)
