Bulldozers to head to illegal highway structures next month

16:41' 21/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – The Transport Ministry will begin clearing illegal structures along National Highway 1 on May 1.
The VND14tril, about US$875mil, campaign would eliminate encroaching buildings to re-establish traffic safety, said Viet Nam Roads Administration deputy director Ngo Quang Dao on Thursday.
Four sections, Hanoi-Ninh Binh; Vinh-Hue; Da Nang-Nha Trang and Ninh Thuan to south of HCM City, would be cleared during the first three-month phase, he said.
The Viet Nam Roads Administration estimates that about 80,000 structures have been illegally built along the north-south highway.
They include residences and commercial buildings.
Illegal roads also criss-cross the major artery.
Owners of the structures are being told this month to clear sites 5-7 metres from the road's edge or they will be bulldozed.
Owners of structures erected after 1999 would not be compensated in accordance with Decree 172, said Ngo Quang Dao.
Occupiers of land that local officials had illegally allocated for cultivation or the building of dwellings before that date could negotiate for payment but not until the third phase of the campaign which begins in 2010.
The deputy director said that about 50% of illegally built cross roads - often lower than the highway and a cause of accidents - would be eliminated.
Most had been built without the Transport Ministry's permission.
Although the administration's permission was now necessary for all new roads only 27 of the country's 64 cities and provinces had so far submitted their projects for approval, he said.
The deputy director said that all illegal structures along the highway would be eliminated during the campaign second phase, from the end of July to 2010.
Municipal officers had been asked to co-operate in having the illegal structures cleared by next March in accordance with Viet Nam Government Resolution 32 of last June.
Viet Nam Railways plans to spend more than VND4tril, about $250-mil, between now and 2020 to have illegal structures cleared from alongside its tracks.