ĐỒNG NAI -- The People’s Committee of Đồng Nai Province has suspended the licensing of construction projects in residential areas around the planned Long Thành International Airport in an effort to prevent speculation and higher land prices.

At a meeting on site clearance on Thursday, the deputy chairman of Đồng Nai People’s Committee, Trần Văn Vĩnh, asked Long Thành and Nhơn Trạch district authorities who grant licences to construction projects to first wait for the planning of areas around the projects to be completed.

To receive public feedback on the plan, the committee and Long Thành District will work together to publicise information about the plan, Vĩnh said.

The central Government has told the province to work with relevant agencies on a feasibility study on site clearance and compensation to residents who will have to move before the project begins.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment will assess the feasibility study and submit it to the Government before sending it to the National Assembly for approval.

A spokesman from the Đồng Nai Province’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment said the feasibility study would be submitted to the Government by the end of August.

The feasibility study is expected to include information about the status and location of the airport project; infrastructure for re-settlement areas for affected households; land reclamation and compensation; and job training and employment opportunities for the resettled.

Also included will be re-adjustment of administrative borders of the area; environmental impact of the project; sources of investment; and information on the progress of the feasibility study.

The department said that speculators, after hearing about the airport plan, had bought farmland plots and divided them into smaller plots for resale. This would likely cause prices of land around the airport to rise, it said.

Around 15,000 Đồng Nai residents will be affected by the airport project, 70 per cent of them farmers, with others working at rubber plantations or other jobs, according to the Đồng Nai Province’s People’s Committee.

Compensation for site clearance to households is estimated to total VNĐ23 trillion, including VNĐ5 trillion approved by the National Assembly for site clearance between 2016 and 2020.

For site clearance of 5,000 ha for the first stage of the project, 4,730 households and 26 offices of organisations will have to be relocated. VNS