Trillion-dollar project at risk of breaking schedule because people want land compensation price 10 times higher

Two businesses responsible for compensating for land within the boundary of the project to build and expand National Highway 50 (Binh Chanh, Ho Chi Minh City) are slow to hand over the site because residents have requested compensation prices 10 times higher.

The project to build and expand National Highway 50 is invested by the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board (Traffic Board), with a total investment of nearly 1,500 billion VND. Construction started in December 2022 but is now at risk of "breaking" the schedule because 11 households in 2 locations have not been compensated. Therefore, the contractor does not have a site to construct.

Nearly 2 years still no handover of site

According to the reporter's records on the afternoon of October 29, the area of ​​3 houses in Gia Hoa residential area and 8 households on Trinh Quang Nghi street are still blocked and remain in the same state. These two groups of premises are respectively under the compensation responsibility of two enterprises: Gia Hoa Construction and Housing Business Private Enterprise and Khang Phuc Housing Investment and Trading Company Limited (formerly Binh Chanh Construction Investment Joint Stock Company).

In particular, the houses with frontage on Trinh Quang Nghi Street (Binh Chanh) are located entirely within the boundary of Dong Hanh Highway 50 of the project.

According to the People's Committee of Binh Chanh district, the locality is reviewing the legality to report to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment for comments on compensation policy, and submit it to the City People's Committee for consideration and resolution.

Residential houses block the heart of the Highway 50 expansion and upgrade project.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Tri, Deputy Head of the Compensation and Site Clearance Board of Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City said: "The Board is continuing to coordinate with the two enterprises to speed up the site clearance progress according to the direction of the city leaders. However, the two enterprises have not yet been able to negotiate with the people."

Meanwhile, Mr. Tran Huu Cuong, Deputy Director of Gia Hoa Construction and Housing Business Company, shared that resolving the compensation issue encountered difficulties and obstacles when households demanded compensation levels 5 times higher, and some households even requested compensation prices 10 times higher than normal.

"According to the compensation plan, the company proactively negotiated with three households, but they did not agree because they thought the land value was not equal to the price of land in residential areas. Households with agricultural land also requested to calculate according to the price of residential land," said Mr. Cuong.

Mr. Pham Minh Nhat, General Director of Khang Phuc Housing Investment and Trading Company, said that for the 8 households that are having problems, the company has proposed a suitable price plan, from 45 to 55 million VND/m2 depending on the land area to organize the implementation of compensation work. However, the households requested a price that was very high compared to the compensation plan, so the agreement could not be reached.

Will enforce if business is late

Mr. Nguyen Van Tai, Vice Chairman of Binh Chanh District People's Committee (HCMC) proposed two options.

Option 1 is that the two enterprises must continue to urgently implement the project objectives approved from the 1/2000 and 1/500 plans.

Option 2, if the enterprise does not implement, the State will take over the project, but will not compensate for the land of the two enterprises. Because this is the goal that the enterprise should have implemented, if the State does it, there must be sanctions to handle it.

The area was previously flooded and swampy. After the project to upgrade and expand National Highway 50 started, people requested compensation 5-10 times higher than before.

Mr. Vo Van Hoan, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, requested Binh Chanh district and the investor to chair a meeting and discussion so that people understand that their wishes must be based on specific grounds.

The Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee said that businesses can be flexible within the permitted framework, but if the two sides cannot reach an agreement, coercive measures will be applied for the state to implement.

"People need to consider choosing the right option. The land here is agricultural land, low-lying mud, swampy land, so it cannot have high value. However, when receiving a piece of land with infrastructure and this road is cleared, the value of the land will increase a lot," said Mr. Hoan.

A representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport (the investor) said that the two companies have not yet finalized a date for handing over the site to the construction unit. The lack of a clean site for construction has affected the project completion date at the end of December.

According to the investor, the project to build and expand National Highway 50 has reached about 56% of the construction volume. Of which, the construction of the new parallel road has reached 80%, and the expansion of the existing road has reached nearly 20%.

"In case the site is not handed over on time, the unit will choose to open the completed sections to traffic first for people's convenience," said a representative of the Traffic Department.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/tphcm-du-an-nghin-ty-nguy-co-vo-tien-do-vi-nguoi-dan-muon-gia-dat-boi-thuong-gap-10-lan-192241030090222497.htm