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 on Tuesday handed over 2,589 hectares to make way for the first phase of the proposed Long Thành International Airport so that construction of the airport can begin next year. 

Of the amount, 1,810ha is the priority area that Đồng Nai had earlier committed to hand over in October. 

The province is expected to hand over the entire land for the project by the second quarter of next year, according to Cao Tiến Dũng, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee.

As of today, Long Thành District People’s Committee had paid VNĐ1.3 trillion (US$56 million) in compensation to 611 affected families who had to move to make way for the airport, he said.

The compensation for more than 200 other households will be paid by the end of October, he added.

Compensation for the remaining 3,200ha will be completed by the end of November.

Dũng said the province would complete the assessment of cleared land for affected households within this year.

“The province is speeding up the construction of infrastructure for resettlement areas so that the residents will receive land and build houses on the resettled areas by the end of this month,” he said.

Deputy Minister of Transport Lê Anh Tuấn spoke highly of the effort made by the province to hand over the land on time as it had committed to the Government. 

“As requested by the Prime Minister, most of the land for the construction of the first phase of the airport has been handed over by Đồng Nai Province within less than two years.”

Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hòa Bình urged the province to speed up the site clearance process to ensure early commencement of the project.

He also ordered the investor to build a fence surrounding the cleared land to prevent it from being encroached upon.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has also asked the province to speed up site clearance and compensation as well as disbursement of all VNĐ23 trillion ($992.84 million) for the airport project in accordance with the law.

The PM also set a deadline for assessment of cleared land for compensation purposes by the end of November.

He ordered that the Ministry of Transport closely work with Đồng Nai Province to promptly solve any obstacles to ensure the project remains on schedule.

To build Long Thành airport, the site clearance project must acquire more than 5,000ha of land and more than 364 extra hectares to build two resettlement sites.

Around 4,800 local households and 26 organisations are expected to be relocated to make way for the proposed airport. 

The airport is expected to serve 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of freight each year.

Covering a total area of more than 5,580 hectares, the airport will be located in six communes in Long Thành District in Đồng Nai Province. The airport’s total investment is VNĐ336.63 trillion ($14.47 billion), with construction divided into three phases.

In the first phase, a runway and one passenger terminal along with other supporting works will be built at a cost of VNĐ109.112 trillion ($4.66 billion) to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo each year. — VNS