At a meeting with the National Assembly's Economic Committee in Hanoi on Tuesday, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang requested the Ministry of Planning and Investment and Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) to analyze the urgency and other issues raised by experts for the Long Thanh International Airport project.
The Ministry of Transport has proposed hiring a Japanese consulting firm to evaluate the need for developing an international airport in Long Thanh District in the southern province of Dong Nai to ease overloads at Tan Son Nhat airport in HCMC.
At a meeting with the National Assembly’s Economic Committee in Hanoi on Tuesday, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang requested the Ministry of Planning and Investment and Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) to analyze the urgency and other issues raised by experts for the Long Thanh International Airport project.
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| Tan Son Nhat airport is seen from a plane. The Ministry of Transport and ACV are requested to clarify the feasibility of the planned Long Thanh airport in Dong Nai Province and compare the cost of this project with the expansion of Tan Son Nhat airport |
The meeting was held for the transport ministry and ACV to clarify issues related to the big-ticket project with representatives of the committee less than one month after the committee gathered comments from aviation experts against the international project.
At the meeting, ACV compared the design of Long Thanh airport with that of Changi Airport in Singapore and airports elsewhere in the world and suggested plans to execute the airport project in Vietnam.
The investor of Long Thanh also presented revised plans for construction, site clearance, functional areas, investments and capital mobilization for the airport, which is 32 kilometers from Bien Hoa military airport and 43 kilometers from Tan Son Nhat.
To ensure the efficiency of the project, the committee’s chairman Nguyen Van Giau urged the parties concerned to make clear why Tan Son Nhat cannot be expanded and the density of air traffic at this biggest international airport in Vietnam, as well as investment cost and capital proportions, and socio-economic impacts of Long Thanh when it is put into use.
Minister Thang told ACV to make clear how Long Thanh would be operated and its impacts on socio-economic development of the project on the country in general and the southern region in particular.
Earlier, Japan airport consultancy company JAC assisted ACV in drawing up the Long Thanh airport project and making comparisons with expansion plans for Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Bien Hoa Airport in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province.
The first phase of Long Thanh airport project is estimated at US$7.8 billion, including US$5.6 billion for First Phase 1A and US$730 million used to compensate for some 1,500 households forced to relocate. It costs an estimated US$9.1 billion to expand Tan Son Nhat airport and an additional US$16.1 billion for site clearance and relocation of 150,000 affected households.
The expansion of Bien Hoa military airport is seen unfeasible as it requires the same amount of investment for construction plus US$4.6 billion for site clearance.
Long Thanh airport was first planned in 2005 with an area of 5,000 hectares. It is designed with a maximum capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo per year, and capable of receiving Airbus A380, the world’s current largest jumbo jet, and those of same seating capacity.
The project was previously scheduled for getting off the ground in 2015. Some 24,000 workers would be needed in the construction process.
(Source:SGT)
