HCMC – Vietnam Expressway Corporation, the investor of the Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway project, has asked the governments of HCMC and Dong Nai Province to allocate capital in advance for the site clearance and compensation work of the project.
Only 2% of the land needed for the project has yet to be cleared, but the investor is incapable of affording the compensation. The corporation is waiting for the competent agencies to come up with solutions over capital issues at the project, the local media reported.
Until date, Dong Nai has advanced more than VND10 billion as compensation for 19 households. Meanwhile, the HCMC government has yet to respond to VEC’s proposal on the advance to compensate 17 households.
If the investor is provided capital for site clearance and compensation, it can immediately continue work on the project after the competent agencies allocate capital for it.
According to the HCMC Department of Transport, the municipal government has received VEC’s proposal and assigned the municipal Department of Planning and Investment to consider it.
The city has handed over to the investor land lots taken from more than 1,100 households in Binh Chanh District. However, 17 other households have yet to be compensated.
In addition, 12 households in Nha Be District have yet to hand over their land.
As of now, the 57.8-kilometer Ben Luc-Long Thanh expressway project has been 78.28% complete. However, packages on construction, consulting and supervision, capital for which was borrowed from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and packages using loans from the Asian Development Bank have been suspended.
The project, which requires an estimated investment of VND31.32 trillion in the first phase, will help connect the southwestern region with the Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Dong Nai provinces and link expressways and national highways with Cai Mep-Thi Vai and Sao Mai-Ben Dinh port complexes and the Long Thanh International Airport.
