Part of Highway 1 passing through Thua Thien-Hue Province. Site clearance has not been finished on nearly 7 per cent of the Da Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway. — VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hung

QUANG NAM (Biz Hub) — Site clearance has not been finished on nearly seven per cent of the total length of the Da Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway, due to difficulties in compensation, a conference heard on Tuesday.

At the conference on accelerating the construction of the expressway, the Quang Nam Province's People's Committee said that nearly 92 kilometres of the expressway went through the province, five kilometres of which have yet to be cleared.

Under the Ministry of Transport's request, part of the expressway from Da Nang City to Quang Nam Province's Tam Ky Township must open for traffic by the end of this year. The project is currently under alert for its slow progress.

According to authorities in Phu Ninh, Nui Thanh districts and Dien Ban Township, most households have not yet received compensation money and have not handed over land for the project, claiming the compensation was much lower than market value.

In Dien Ban Commune alone, more than 100 households have not yet moved, saying that they disagreed with the compensation levels.

Nguyen Dinh Thanh, resident in Dien Ban Commune, said that his family did not want to be resettled or receive compensation money as the land they were offered was not satisfactory.

The Quang Nam Province's People's Committee said that it was high time that representatives of districts that the expressway ran through and the management board of the expressway take measures to solve the problem.

Authorities in Phu Ninh, Nui Thanh districts and Dien Ban Township were asked to organise dialogues with affected households to explain misunderstandings while reviewing and dealing with shortcomings of site clearance work.

The provincial committee also asked local authorities to focus on creating jobs for affected people or help them switch jobs.

It required the contractor unit to repair damaged roads caused by construction units.

The Da Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway, with a total investment of nearly US$1.7 billion, started construction in 2013.

The expressway is about 140 kilometres long. It has great significance for boosting social-economic development and national defence-security in the central region and improving international transportation between Laos, Cambodia and Viet Nam through the East-West corridor to seaports in central Viet Nam. — VNS