Authorities of HCMC and Dong Nai Province on Monday urged the Government to approve early construction of Long Thanh International Airport to reduce overload at Tan Son Nhat International Airport and motivate economic development in Dong Nai.
Authorities of HCMC and Dong Nai Province on Monday urged the Government to approve early construction of Long Thanh International Airport to reduce overload at Tan Son Nhat International Airport and motivate economic development in Dong Nai.
Speaking at an online meeting with the Government on Monday, Le Hoang Quan, chairman of HCMC, said that Tan Son Nhat airport was earlier projected to receive 13 million passengers in 2015. But now, the airport is handling 20 million passengers every year.
If the Long Thanh airport project fails to kick off soon, Tan Son Nhat airport will see severe overload in the next two or three years, hindering socioeconomic development in the city and the region.
Dong Nai Province’s Chairman Dinh Quoc Thai said that the Government should give guidelines for construction of the project in the near future to help speed up economic development of the southern province.
To carry out the project, there must be two large resettlement projects with total capital of VND7.2 trillion. Over 10,000 people will be affected by land reclaim for the airport project, Thai said.
According to a report of Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) in July, the Government would raise funds from various sources for the project. In the first phase from 2014 to 2020, at least US$5.6 billion is needed, of which State funds and Official Development Assistance capital will make up around 53%.
ACV said that it will take around 10 years to approve, prepare for design, arrange capital, clear up the site and build an international airport. Therefore, the project should have begun now so the first stage with the capacity of 25 million passengers a year will be completed in 2020 to share the burden with Tan Son Nhat.
The airport was approved by the Government in 2005 to be built on a 5,000-hectare area. The airport will be 32 kilometers from Bien Hoa military airport, 43 kilometers from Tan Son Nhat Airport and have maximum capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo each year.
It will be able to handle A380 aircraft and their equivalents. In 2030, it will be able to meet air transport demands in the region.
According to Japanese consultants, construction of Long Thanh airport will cost over US$7.8 billion and land reclaim expenses will be US$730 million. Meanwhile, the Tan Son Nhat airport expansion plan would cost over US$9.1 billion.
Earlier, the project’s kick-off was expected in 2015 with around 24,000 workers recruited. Dong Nai Province’s authorities have suggested the Government to allocate VND4.1 trillion for resettlement area construction and nearly VND4.2 trillion for site clearance in the first stage.
(Source:SGT)
