Resettlement at Dinh Co, Vietnam

The Nam Con Son Pipeline is the largest natural gas project in Vietnam and is being jointly developed by an investor group that includes Petro Vietnam, ONGC, Conoco, and BP, which serves as the operator. The project has involved developing terminal facilities at Dinh Co to support the Lan Tay and Lan Do gas fields, which now supply natural gas for power generation in Vietnam.

As land is not owned in Vietnam but leased from the State, BP began the process of lease transfer early in the project's commercial negotiation phase in 1997. This land lease process was complex and time-consuming, involving negotiations with individual landowners and numerous government agencies, including peoples committees, land department, construction department and compensation and site clearance committees at the commune, district, provincial and national levels.

The entire process was carried out in accordance with Vietnamese law, which requires that compensation for land, crops, trees, and building structures follow strict guidelines to ensure consistency between projects in the region.

A dedicated team of BP and PetroVietnam (PV) personnel was assigned to handle this project. PV staff provided the leading role in dealing with local authorities and landowners, with support from BP staff. All BP staff dealing with these interfaces were Vietnamese and no consultants and/or intermediaries were used in the process. This approach worked well as it facilitated communication and speeded up settlements of claims and disputes.

During the compensation process the Provincial Peoples Committee received written claims from ten individual landowners. A few of the claims had to do with disputes in the size of assessed areas and/or the amount of crops removed. These claims were quickly resolved after further site verifications. Most remaining claims involved the gaps between the low official rates of compensation and the higher market rates. Innovative approaches were used to strike a balance between government guidelines and demands of landowners, for example, providing bonuses for vacating the site on time or providing funds for educational training.

The terminal site involved 87 separate landowners on approximately 65 hectares of land, most of it farmland. Major crops grown were either cashew nut trees or eucalyptus trees - trees that do not require continual attention. Out of the 87 landowners, only 12 had shelters built to support them while tending crops during harvest, however 2 landowners did actually live permanently on the site. The two families who were displaced were able to rebuild their houses on another part of their land.

Payments were made directly to the landowners in several compensation sessions organized by the compensation committees and supervised by representatives of the district and provincial authorities. All except two of the landowners accepted their payments during the first three sessions in January and February of 2001. Final agreements were reached with the remaining two landowners in April 2001.