A consulting consortium comprising Japanese, French and Vietnamese firms has proposed choosing Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) as the investor for the first phase of the Long Thanh International Airport project in Dong Nai Province, according to its draft plan.
A consulting consortium comprising Japanese, French and Vietnamese firms has proposed choosing Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) as the investor for the first phase of the Long Thanh International Airport project in Dong Nai Province, according to its draft plan.
The consortium explained that ACV has strong financial capacity and experience in developing airports, such as Phu Quoc International Airport, and in expanding and upgrading large airports, such as Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai International Airports, according to Phap Luat newspaper.
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| Experts look at the model of the Long Thanh International Airport project. ACV has been proposed as the investor for the big-ticket project - PHOTO: PLO |
According to the feasibility study, the project requires nearly VND112 trillion, or US$4.8 billion, in funding and will be executed in the 2020-2025 period.
If ACV becomes the investor for the project, the country’s public debt will not increase, as official development assistance loans will not be needed. However, ACV will have to mobilize capital from the international capital market for two decades at an interest rate of roughly 6% per year.
ACV Chairman Lai Xuan Thanh told Tuoi Tre Online newspaper that the corporation is confident of providing 40%-45% of the total investment for the first phase of the project.
ACV will have to borrow the remaining 60%, which is deemed safe as the investors of most build-operate-transfer traffic projects in the country have to borrow 80%-90% of the investment needed for their projects.
As for airport operations, ACV has experience in operating 21 airports nationwide.
According to Deputy Minister of Transport Le Dinh Tho, Long Thanh International Airport is an important project, which requires fast and careful preparations so that the project can kick off in 2021 and be completed in 2025. Therefore, the ministry proposed the National Assembly issue a resolution to approve the feasibility report for the project.
For the first phase of the Long Thanh International Airport project, the investor will develop a four-kilometer-long, 45-meter-wide runway, as well as a passenger terminal and auxiliary facilities, serving some 25 million passengers per year.
The passenger terminal’s design was inspired by the lotus flower. It will feature an artificial waterfall in a garden landscape with light boxes on the roof.
The cargo terminal, which will cover some 150,000 square meters of land, is expected to have an annual capacity of 1.2 million tons of cargo. The terminal will be adjacent to the aircraft parking area.
In addition, an express cargo terminal with an annual capacity of 100,000 tons of cargo will be built. A car park in front of the cargo terminal to facilitate the transport of cargo to and from the airport was also planned.
In the first phase, the project will build an air traffic control tower 123 meters high, as well as water and electricity supply systems and a wastewater treatment plant.
According to the consulting consortium, after the first phase is completed, 200,000 jobs will be created.
The airport will be connected with National Highway 51 and the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay and Dau Giay-Phan Thiet expressways. Further, the North-South express railway is planned to pass through the airport and a light railway between Thu Thiem New Urban Area in HCMC’s District 2 and Long Thanh International Airport has been proposed.
(Source:SGT)
