Project to renovate and upgrade National Highway 279 is delayed due to lack of land.

With the goal of continuing to improve traffic infrastructure and enhance connectivity between the two central cities of the province, Ha Long - Cam Pha, Quang Ninh has decided to invest in renovating and upgrading National Highway 279. However, during the implementation process, site clearance work encountered difficulties, causing the project's progress to be unsatisfactory.

Officers of the Land Fund Center of Cam Pha City discuss with households subject to land acquisition.

The project to renovate and upgrade National Highway 279 was approved by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 3568/QD-UBND dated December 6, 2022. The project is 8.1km long, starting at the intersection with National Highway 18, Quang Hanh Ward, Cam Pha City; ending at the Ha Long - Van Don Expressway Interchange (Dong La Interchange), Vu Oai Commune, Ha Long City. The road is designed according to the level III plain standards, with a cross-section of 6 lanes, and a total investment of more than 1,800 billion VND.

To implement the project, the localities of Ha Long City and Cam Pha City must carry out site clearance on an area of nearly 80 hectares, directly involving more than 160 households and organizations. Of which, the section through Ha Long City must carry out site clearance on an area of nearly 18 hectares involving 42 households and organizations; the section through Cam Pha City must carry out site clearance on an area of 61.6 hectares involving 119 households and organizations.

Since the end of 2023, the investor, the Provincial Management Board of Investment and Construction of Agricultural and Rural Development Projects, has signed a contract with the local land acquisition and clearance agency, coordinated in the implementation of land recovery notices, measurement and extraction, counting, determining land origin, handing over the current status map, confirming boundaries, synthesizing the area of affected land plots, etc.

However, after nearly a year, the section through Ha Long City has ensured about 80% of the land area to be handed over to the investor to implement the project. Currently, there are 7 households with overlapping land waiting for the investor to adjust the planning. Particularly for Cam Pha City, only 5/13 organizations and 12/106 households have handed over the land. The remaining organizations and households are still in the process of implementing procedures to determine legal constructions, determine land types, adjust planning, and encounter boundary overlaps...

Contractor constructing bored piles at Quang Hanh intersection.

According to the representative of the People's Committee of Cam Pha City, the implementation of the land acquisition and clearance work has not been on schedule due to both subjective and objective reasons. Specifically, in the process of organizing the implementation of the land acquisition and clearance work, some regulations in the 2024 Land Law have been newly applied, so the locality has to wait for the instructions and regulations on compensation, support and resettlement of the province to apply. In addition, there are still problems in the instructions on how to calculate the volume of forestry trees, problems in issuing land prices, some land plots do not have land use boundaries, some households whose land has been recovered do not live in the locality, difficulties in contacting the owners to conduct the inventory and compensation procedures... therefore, the land acquisition and clearance work is slower than planned.

Due to lack of land, the project construction is still quite slow. Currently, contractors are focusing on constructing bored piles at Quang Hanh intersection, constructing abutments, Dien Vong bridge pier body, box culvert system at Km2+600; Km5+180; Km6+247 and organizing excavation and filling of part of the roadbed at locations where land is available. Also due to lack of land, the beam casting work forces contractors to rent locations far from the construction site. Currently, 64/64 Super T beam slabs, 28/28 I beam slabs, 7/7 plate beams for Quang Hanh intersection and 20/20 I33 beams for Dien Vong bridge have been completed.

With the most obvious experience and practical evidence when owning the province's synchronous traffic infrastructure in recent years, it can be affirmed that traffic works are an important driving force to ensure growth targets, regional connectivity, economic chains and development. Therefore, accelerating traffic works, putting them into operation soon, and promoting efficiency after investment is always the top goal of the province. In that spirit, to ensure the disbursement and growth targets in 2024 and the following years, relevant units and localities need to focus and make more efforts, accelerate the removal of difficulties, complete site clearance to create conditions for the National Highway 279 Renovation and Upgrade Project to finish on schedule.

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