Investment progress is slow.

The Central Region Connectivity Project of Quang Nam province passes through 4 districts (Thang Binh, Phu Ninh, Tien Phuoc and Bac Tra My) with a total route length of 31.5km. Photo: TD

Lesson 1: Slow Investment Progress

A year after its commencement, the Central Region Linkage Project in Quang Nam province has made little progress. Compensation and land clearance issues remain unresolved.

Blockage There has not been much new since the groundbreaking of the Central Region Linkage Project in Quang Nam Province (July 19, 2023). The deadline set for April 30, 2024 or at the latest June 30, 2024 to hand over the entire construction site through inspections and conclusions of the Provincial Party Secretary and Head of the Steering Committee on promoting compensation and site clearance for key projects in 2021 - 2025 could not come true.

During an inspection in late June 2024, Provincial Party Secretary Luong Nguyen Minh Triet stated that the project's investment progress was slow. The investor needed to coordinate with local authorities and begin construction wherever land was available to ensure timely completion.

The 31.5km long road passing through many localities (Thang Binh, Phu Ninh, Tien Phuoc, Bac Tra My) is broken and interrupted. Contractors have cast enough culvert burning structures, but are only constructing the foundation and horizontal drainage culverts on sections with sufficient ground (Phu Ninh, Tien Phuoc, Bac Tra My).

The Truong Giang Bridge (Binh Nam, Thang Binh) has completed casting 28 out of 48 super T girders and constructing 18 out of 64 bored piles. Compensation for land previously used for shrimp ponds at the construction site of abutment M1 and piers T1 and T2 has not yet been paid, preventing construction from proceeding.

According to the Project Management Board for Investment and Construction of Transportation Works (the investor), compensation, land clearance, and resettlement face many difficulties and delays due to the need for lengthy meetings to verify land ownership.

The current land use status has changed significantly in area compared to the land use right certificate. The origin of the land is not used for the right purpose according to the land use right certificate.

Provincial Party Secretary Luong Nguyen Minh Triet inspects the progress of the Central Region Linkage Project in Quang Nam province.

The approval of specific land prices for submission to the appraisal and approval of compensation plans is slow. Some localities have not yet approved specific land prices. Resettlement areas implemented by localities have not been completed, so there is no basis for appraisal and approval of compensation plans for cases requiring resettlement.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam, Director of the Project Management Board for Investment and Construction of Transportation Works, said that nearly 40% of the land (12.5/31.5km) has been handed over, but not continuously, making construction difficult.

Many infrastructures along the route, such as electricity and fiber optic cables, have not yet been relocated. The completed work volume has only reached 80 out of 516 billion VND. The investor is coordinating with the People's Committees of the districts through which the project passes to continue compensation and land clearance for the remaining portion in order to hand over the construction site.

The investor reported that the 2km section through Thang Binh is currently blocked because of 12 shrimp ponds. People refuse to hand over the land. The People's Committee of Binh Nam commune has not yet reviewed and reported 6 plots of land at 5%. There is no land for reburial or relocation of graves (the residential area has 192 graves and 5 graves on the route). The 1.9km section through Phu Ninh has not yet approved the documents for measurement, adjustment and supplementation. The 21.9km section through Tien Phuoc has many plots of land that do not meet the conditions for compensation.

People have not yet completed the procedures for inheritance, donation, transfer, or extension of agricultural land use. About 30 households have had their plans approved, but they "complain" about the low price and have not received compensation.

The project's resettlement areas have not yet been fully developed, lacking the necessary basis to prepare compensation, land clearance, and resettlement plans for households affected by housing issues.

The 5.7km section through Bac Tra My has 11 households that have not received money related to low prices, houses next to the road are being confiscated, and the road needs to be adjusted; 15 households and 1 Protestant organization have not approved the plan...

Delay

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam acknowledged during the Provincial People's Council Standing Committee's oversight session on June 6, 2024, that the project's implementation had been delayed. The bidding and contract awarding process involved numerous procedures that needed to be completed to comply with donor regulations, thus prolonging the timeline.

One of the reasons for the delay in project implementation is the uncompensated shrimp pond land.

The delay in project implementation is not the “fault” of the investor but is due to difficulties from the public investment capital plan to the overlap of laws on construction investment, land... The complicated COVID-19 pandemic has broken the coordination chain with foreign personnel, affecting the project progress.

According to the Department of Planning and Investment, the investment policy for this project was approved by the Prime Minister on June 27, 2016. The Provincial People's Committee approved the investment on April 17, 2017. The Provincial People's Committee has reported to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to register the project list and capital level in the medium-term public investment plan for 2016-2020.

However, because the agreement with the sponsor has not been negotiated or signed, the project has not been allocated capital in the 2016-2020 medium-term public investment plan, and has no basis for implementation.

Legal documents regarding the use of ODA funds, investment, construction, and land have undergone numerous adjustments. This incident led to the project requiring three revisions and changes (2018, 2020 & 2021), prolonging the implementation time.

According to the investor, the difficulty of this project (projects using ODA capital often encounter) is that the bidding packages must be organized for international bidding (design of construction drawings and estimates, construction), the regulations on time for preparing bidding documents and other procedures are also longer than domestic bidding.

The regulation requires consulting with the sponsor at each implementation step (must submit and have the sponsor review and agree on the long list, short list of consultants, bidding documents, technical proposal evaluation results, financial evaluation results, contract negotiations, contracts...).

The time to review the sponsor's feedback is long, and editing and perfecting must be done many times according to the sponsor's opinions... leading to a long time to organize the selection of contractors, which is also one of the main reasons for the delay.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam said that the investor had repeatedly sent letters requesting the sponsor to expedite the review process. It wasn't until the second quarter of 2023 that the investor completed the contractor selection and signed the construction contract for the transportation infrastructure, and began compensation and land clearance.

According to the plan, the project was supposed to complete construction work as per the signed contract before December 5, 2025. However, given the numerous obstacles and complexities currently facing the project, it is unlikely that it will be completed on schedule.

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Final article: The necessity of adapting to reality

The Central Region Connectivity Project of Quang Nam province was approved in 2017. The total investment is 34.5 million USD, of which ODA capital is 25.47 million USD, lent by the Korean Government through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), covering the following costs: construction, construction drawing design consultancy, supervision consultancy, contingency costs and EDCF service fees; counterpart capital is 9.04 million USD, equivalent to 201.2 billion VND (90.3 billion VND from the central budget and 110.9 billion VND from the provincial budget), covering the following costs: project management, remaining construction investment consultancy, other costs, compensation, site clearance, taxes and fees.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/du-an-lien-ket-vung-mien-trung-tinh-quang-nam-vi-sao-phai-dieu-chinh-chu-truong-dau-tu-bai-1-tien-do-dau-tu-i-ach-3137605.html