Power Transmission Investment Program

Key government policy changes need to be monitored for possible impacts on projects and project updates undertaken as necessary. Tranche 3 faced major resettlement challenges and experienced delays of up to 2.5 years beyond the initially approved loan closing date. This was because local authorities encountered difficulties in completing site clearance and subsequent compensation payments. Until the preparation of ADB’s project completion report, compensation payments have remained pending on (i) 3 subprojects because of
disagreements on compensation rates and/or inventory of losses and existing land disputes, and (ii) discrepancies between the government policy and cash assistance rate set by the project’s Resettlement and Ethnic Minority Development Framework (REMDF) for affected households. Delays and difficulties could have been better managed had the REMDF, approved by ADB in 2011, been updated in accordance with the 2013 revisions made by the government on the Vietnamese Land Law, 2003. The revised land law requires the land compensation payments to be based on market prices and verified by an independent agency.