Dong Nai (VNS/VNA) - Authorities in the southern province of DongNai plan to establish hi-tech agricultural co-operatives to create jobs forthose over the age of 40 who are affected by the construction of Long ThanhInternational Airport.

According to a survey conducted by the provincial Department of Labour,Invalids and Social Affairs, more than 6,600 people aged over 15 lived in thearea affected by the project.

Many have had their land revoked to make way for the airport, covering morethan 5,500ha in six communes of Long Thanh district.

Among them are students, labourers at industrial zones, farmers and smallbusiness owners.

Most students are willing to take apprenticeships related to the project tofind jobs after the airport opens.

Labourers in the agricultural sector want training and suitable jobs after theymove to new areas.

A small number of residents want to work overseas.

Provincial authorities said they would organise training courses and addressemployment demands among local people.

Enterprises in Long Thanh district will need to recruit more than 22,500labourers next year, which will be a good opportunity for those under the ageof 40 to find jobs.

Those companies are looking for unskilled workers in the electronics, mechanicsand wooden product processing sectors.

Local authorities have set up job centres in the area and will organisestart-up programmes.

Labourers aged 40 and above will have the chance to do agricultural work aspart of co-operatives.

People living in the area will be offered a free training course if they gain aschool or college qualification.

Those who take primary apprentice training courses for less than three monthswill receive 3 million VND (130 USD) each.

After these courses, people who want to take out loans will enjoy preferentialpolicies.

Those who want to work overseas will be assisted with tuition fees, foreignlanguage courses and other related expenses.

Long Thanh International Airport, which cost 336.63 trillion VND, is thelargest ever project in Dong Nai and one of the key national projects.

Its construction has affected 5,000 households to whom compensation of nearly 18trillion VND (782.5 million USD) will need to be paid.

Once fully operational, Long Thanh Airport will reduce the load on Tan Son NhatInternational Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, handling 100 million passengers andfive million tonnes of freight each year.

In the first of three phases, a runway and a passenger terminal along withother support works will be built to handle 25 million passengers and 1.2million tonnes of cargo a year.

The first phase is expected to be completed in 2025.

In the second phase, one more runway and another terminal will be built tohandle 50 million passengers and 1.5 million tonnes of cargo./.