Vientiane authorities have decided to build a new highway as part of efforts to expend the urban development to other areas and address traffic congestion in the capital.
The highway will link Donnokkhoum village in Sisattanak district to Donkoi village before cutting through That Luang marsh to Xiengda village in Xaysettha district and the 450-Year Road, over a distance of 9.5km.
The project will be operated under the government's policy to convert land into capital by reserving 200 metres of land on either side of the road for sale, to cover the cost of construction.
Vientiane authorities will provide compensation for local residents along both sides of the road who lose land plots and set it aside for sale to businesses upon completion of the road and repay the construction company which builds the road.
According to a decision of Vientiane Mayor Mr Soukanh Mahalath, the construction of the highway will divide into 3 phases.
On the first phase, the road will connect Donnokkhoum village to Donkoi village with the road to be 40 metres wide. The second phase of the road will link Donkoi village to Xiengda village, which will be 70 metres wide, and the third phase will extend from Xiengda to 450-Year Road at a width of 40 metres.
Earlier this week, Vientiane authorities held a meeting at Lao-ITECC to inform the affected villagers about the development project as well as possible compensation for their land lost to make way for the project.
Many villagers said they supported the project but they were not happy with the compensation for their lands as the compensation prices set by the authorities were lower than market prices.
The decision of the Vientiane Mayor sets the compensation price for villagers in Meuang Noi and Nongda villages at between 15,000 and 50,000 kip per square metre.
Meanwhile, the price of compensation for villagers in Phonpapao and Donkoi is set at between 40,000 kip and 120,000 kip per square metre.
The authorities will provide compensation for lost agricultural land for three years (2012-2014) in monetary equivalent to 4,500kg of wet-season rice per hectare and 5,000 kg of dry-season rice (one kg of paddy rice is 3,000 kip).
For lands lost, the authorities will provide monetary compensation for villagers who have developed their land, to the amount of 5 million kip per hectare for paddy field and 3 million kip per hectare for garden plots.
Meanwhile houses and buildings constructed with approval from authorities will be compensated at 100 percent of the construction costs while the compensation for those built without authorities' approval is yet to be decided. According to local villagers, the market price of land in Phonpapao, Donkoi, Meuang Noi and Nongda villages ranges between 500 baht (125,000 kip) per square metre to more than 1,000 baht (250,000 kip) per square metre.
According to Prime Ministerial Decree No. 92 issued in 2005, the compensation for villagers affected by a development project needs to be sufficient to ensure that the affected villagers will be better off afterwards.
So far, it was unclear when the new highway will be built and how much the cost of the construction will be, as the authorities are still in the process of negotiating land compensation with the affected villagers.
