On March 14, the People's Council of Cao Bang province, term XVII, 2021-2026, held the 28th Session (special session), approving a submission and 4 resolutions, reporting on the socio-economic development of the province.
The session unanimously approved the policy of converting forest use to other purposes to implement 4 projects in Cao Bang province, with an area of over 34 hectares (natural forest is over 30.2 hectares, planted forest is 3.83 hectares).
In particular, for the investment project to build the Dong Dang (Lang Son - Tra Linh (Cao Bang) expressway, the forest area to be converted is 30.96ha (27.39ha of natural forest; 3.57ha of planted forest).
The submission of the People's Committee of Cao Bang province emphasized that this is an urgent project on building socio-economic infrastructure that has been approved by the Prime Minister on investment policy; the scale and route have been appraised and approved by competent authorities for technical documents.
Therefore, the project's affected area of over 27 hectares of natural forest is required to be implemented, and other areas cannot be arranged.
The Dong Dang - Tra Linh Expressway project has a total length of 121km, divided into two investment phases.
Phase 1, Dong Dang - Tra Linh Expressway is invested with a length of more than 93km, starting at Tan Thanh Border Gate intersection, Van Lang district (Lang Son), and ending at National Highway 3 intersection in Chi Thao commune, Quang Hoa district (Cao Bang). The highlight of the project is the two tunnels through Dong Khe and That Khe mountains.
Phase 1 of the project has a total investment of VND 14,167 billion, invested by the consortium of Deo Ca Group Joint Stock Company - ICV Vietnam Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company - Deo Ca Transport Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company - Construction Joint Stock Company 568.
It is expected that phase 1 will be opened to traffic in 2025 and completed in 2026.
To date, Cao Bang province has handed over 41.26km/41.35km. In the two districts of Thach An and Quang Hoa where the project passes through, over 700 households have been compensated or approved for compensation plans, with a total cost of over 200 billion VND.
The Ministry of National Defense has also agreed to transfer 1,679.1m2 of national defense land (in Thach An district) to serve the project. The locality is striving to hand over the entire site in March 2025.
