Site clearance for the Long Thanh International Airport project in the southern province of Dong Nai is facing a shortfall of a hefty VND18 trillion (US$793 million), according to a report which Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung has sent to the National Assembly (NA).
Site clearance for the Long Thanh International Airport project in the southern province of Dong Nai is facing a shortfall of a hefty VND18 trillion (US$793 million), according to a report which Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung has sent to the National Assembly (NA).
He said in the document that his ministry would be working with the ministries of finance and transport to find ways to cope with the capital shortage, and that the ministry might ask the Government to seek the NA’s approval to tap medium-term public investment reserves if need be.
Resettlement and site clearance compensation for the big-ticket project will need over VND23 trillion, according to a report of Dong Nai Province. Earlier, the NA allowed the project investor to use VND5 trillion from G-bond sales in the 2017-2020 period.
In the report, Minister Dung said it is difficult to mobilize VND18 trillion, and that medium-term public investment capital allocated to the Transport Ministry has not matched growing demand, especially of major projects.
As covered by the Daily, the airport project is divided into three stages. During stage one, a runway and a passenger terminal along with other components will be developed, with a capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo a year. They would be up and running by 2025.
A second runway and a second terminal will be constructed in the second stage to raise the airport’s annual capacity to 50 million passengers and 1.5 million tons of cargo. In the final stage, the remaining components will be put in place, and the airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo a year.
The total cost of the entire project is estimated at VND336.6 trillion, with the first stage requiring VND114.45 trillion.
The Transport Ministry is responsible for the project’s pre-feasibility study which will be presented to the NA for consideration. It is scheduled to get off the ground in 2019, and come into operation in 2023.
(Source:SGT)
