The Ministry of Transport has swiftly downplayed a suggestion by two aviation experts not to build Long Thanh International Airport but to expand Tan Son Nhat instead for better economic efficiency.
The Ministry of Transport has swiftly downplayed a suggestion by two aviation experts not to build Long Thanh International Airport but to expand Tan Son Nhat instead for better economic efficiency.
 |
As covered by the Daily last Friday, two aviation experts - Le Trong Sanh and Mai Trong Tuan – have written to the Prime Minister, asking the Government to rethink the new airport project.
In a report sent to the Government Office, the ministry says the Long Thanh Airport project in Dong Nai Province is the optimal one in the medium- and long-term plan. The report was in response to the Prime Minister’s instruction last week to carefully weigh the proposal by the experts.
The plan to expand Tan Son Nhat Airport in connection with Bien Hoa Airport has been considered and compared to the plan to build Long Thanh, and the comparison points to Long Thanh as the optimal solution, says the ministry.
Regarding concerns about the huge cost of US$8 billion needed to build the new airport, the ministry states that the project will embrace the phased development. The State will invest in or provide assistance in some infrastructure components only, said the ministry.
The volume of passengers at Tan Son Nhat Airport is expected to reach around 19 million this year, 20-25 million per year in 2018-2020 and will be overloaded after that. However, the expansion of Tan Son Nhat Airport to increase the capacity is not easy as the airport has only two close-end runways, according to the report.
Moreover, building one more runway in the north of Tan Son Nhat airport is not practical as it is too close to residential areas.
In addition, the area needed for airport expansion is limited, and thus there will be difficulties in building the transportation system if the airport is expanded.
“If Tan Son Nhat Airport is expanded to increase its capacity, this will leave an impact on the living environment in the city’s central areas such as noise and emission far exceeding the permitted levels,” said the report. Therefore, a new international airport outside will help HCMC develop sustainably and reduce traffic congestion.
After widely collecting opinions of agencies and experts on scale and investment phases of Long Thanh International Airport last month, the Ministry of Transport revised some parts of the plan.
In the first phase that needs around US$7.8 billion, the airport will have a handling capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year.
With current difficulties, only some US$5.6 billion will be used to build a runway and a terminal to serve the transport demand of passengers in 2022.
“Investment amounts will go with specific projects. The State will only invest in or provide assistance for infrastructure facilities whose capital investment cannot be recovered,” says the ministry, adding private enterprises are encouraged to invest in service components.
Regarding the location of Long Thanh International Airport, its planning has been prepared since 2004. The location was chosen for meeting criteria for transporting passengers and goods to HCMC and the entire southern region.
With an area of 5,000 hectares, the airport meets the space requirement for a new and modern international airport which can handle 80-100 million passengers per year with four runways.
The terrain and geology of the area where Long Thanh International Airport is located are not too complicated, the excavation volume is not much and the surface is quite flat. These are favorable conditions for the construction of the airport.
According to the Ministry of Transport, it has thoroughly studied two other plans, which are to upgrade Tan Son Nhat and Bien Hoa airports, in terms of distance, transport, surface area, site clearance compensation and environmental impact assessment. However, after comparing plans, the optimal plan is to build Long Thanh International Airport.
Previously, Le Trong Sanh, former chief of flight management at Tan Son Nhat, and former pilot Mai Trong Tuan have proposed the Government not to build a new international airport as the investment costs are huge while the expansion of Tan Son Nhat Airport is possible.
(Source: SGT)
