Government demands capital for major airports

PM Nguyen Tan Dung has approved loans for a new airport terminal in Ha Noi and a new airport in the southern province of Dong Nai.

The Government has issued a document demanding mobilization of capital for developing Long Thanh international airport in Dong Nai Province and a new modern terminal at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi.

In the document, the Government approved in principle that half of the investment for the new terminal will be loaned by the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and the rest will be sourced from commercial banks.

State-owned commercial banks will join forces to provide a syndicated loan, and the Government will underwrite this loan in case of need, according to Document 2238/TTg-KTN signed by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai on Monday.

More than US$340 million will go to developing the new international-standard terminal coded T2, a parking area for aircraft, a fuel supply system, and other auxiliary works, according to the Government website.

The four-storey building will have usable space of 90,000 square meters, and is designed to handle 10 million passengers a year. The current terminal capable of handling six million passengers will serve domestic flights when the new terminal is put into operation, hopefully by the end of 2010.

Earlier this year, the Government approved a plan to expand the existing Noi Bai Airport to have at least two runways for Boeing 747s, Airbus A380s and other modern aircraft by 2020. By that year, the airport will be able to handle 20-25 million passengers and 260,000 tons of cargo or more every year.

The plan also includes construction of new international-standard developments such as a third terminal to enable the airport to receive 50 million passengers after 2030.

For the other huge project to build a new international airport in Dong Nai, the Government allows the establishment of a joint-stock concern to assume the job. Founding shareholders of Long Thanh Airport will be State-owned enterprises which will contribute 70% of the charter capital to the new company to develop the big-ticket airport in Dong Nai Province.

The rest of the company’s charter capital will be balanced by foreign and public shareholders, according to the document.

BIDV, holding an 11% stake in the new company, will be responsible for proposing appropriate stake proportions for other founding shareholders, and establishing the company and carrying out the Long Thanh airport project in the initial stage.

The Government has also ordered the People’s Committee of Dong Nai Province to map out plans on resettlement and compensation for those affected by the airport project as well as site clearance.

The plans should be submitted to the Government and relevant agencies for consideration and approval in the first quarter of next year.

The Southern Airports Authority will be the owner of Long Thanh International Airport project, which covers 5,000 hectares in Long Thanh District in the southern province.

The airport needs investment capital of some US$8 billion and will have four runways stretching 4,000 meters by 60 meters each to allow for modern aircraft including Airbus A380s to land and take off.

Located over 40 kilometers northeast of HCMC, Long Thanh Airport is expected to handle 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo per year. Therefore, it will help release the pressure on Tan Son Nhat Airport in this economic hub of Vietnam.

(Source: SGT)