A rendering of the proposed Long Thành International Airport in the southern province of Đồng Nai. — Photo courtesy of Airports Corporation of Việt Nam

HCM CITY — Đồng Nai Province authorities have approved the compensation rates payable to households who have to move to make way for the long-awaited Long Thành international airport. 

A total of ​​3,027ha of lands are to be acquired, and the rates range from VNĐ161,000 (US$7) per square metre to VNĐ6.573 million ($280).

Non-agricultural lands will be paid VNĐ1.392-6.573 million per square meter, depending on the location, and for agricultural lands the rate is VNĐ161,000-360,000.

Earlier, the province acquired nearly 1,800 hectares owned by the Đồng Nai Rubber Corporation and paid compensation to the company for building two resettlement areas in Lộc An and Bình Sơn communes in Long Thành District.

The company has begun cutting down rubber trees to hand over the site, according to the province people’s committee.

Work on resettlement area begins

Meanwhile, construction of the 282ha Lộc An-Bình Sơn resettlement area began on Monday. 

More than 5,000 land lots (to accommodate some 29,000 people) are expected to be handed over to evicted households in August.

It will have all required infrastructure like roads, drainage, lighting, and sewage treatment facilities. 

It will also have religious establishments, cultural centres, schools, and markets to serve residents’ needs.

It is one of two resettlement areas to be built to relocate people making way for the airport.

Cao Tiến Dũng, chairman of the Đồng Nai People’s Committee, said the first 700 households would move to the resettlement area in August.

Speaking at a recent meeting with province authorities, Deputy Minister of Transport Lê Anh Tuấn said the site must be available no later than August so that the airport’s construction could begin this year. 

Long Thành International Airport was a key national project that would have a significant impact on the southern key economic region, he said.

He said his ministry would work closely with Đồng Nai Province to promptly address problems that arise to ensure the work remains on schedule.

To build the airport, more than 5,000ha of land need to be cleared and another 364ha are required to build the two resettlement sites.

Some 4,800 households and 26 organisations are expected to relocate. Around 70 per cent of the 15,500 people who will have to move are farmers, and the rest are rubber plantation workers and workers in other sectors.

The feasibility study for the airport has been approved by the Government.

Once fully operational, Long Thành airport is expected to handle 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of freight a year.

It will straddle six communes in Long Thành District.

It will totally cost VNĐ336.63 trillion ($14.35 billion), with its construction divided into three phases.

In the first phase, a runway and one terminal along with required support works will be built to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo annually.

The first phase is expected to be completed by 2025. — VNS