Long Thanh airport project likely years behind schedule

The first phase of the project includes the construction of a terminal and a runway with capacity of 25 million passengers annually. - Photo phuhoanews.vn

To complete all procedures, the project could only start by 2030, it said.

At a working visit between the committee and the local authority, the Dong Nai Province's People's Committee said that it would take about three years to implement the land acquisition, land clearance and resettlement. As stipulated by the current law, these tasks could only be carried out after Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved the investment on the project.

Meanwhile, investor Corporation of Viet Nam said that by July, 2017, it would submit to the Ministry of Transport a report on the project and the National Assembly would approve the project at the first session of 2018.

Thus, in 2018 at the earliest, the Prime Minister will allocate investment capital for the construction of two resettlement areas of Loc An and Binh Son. After that, the site clearance would be implemented by 2020 and land acquisition by 2023.

This meant the project would be carried out five years behind schedule, which might pose risks of increasing initial investment capital and delays at reducing the overloading of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, it said.

Nguyen Van Giau, chairman of the NA Economic Committee said that the project must begin in 2018, so it could complete its first phase by 2025 according to the National Assembly's resolution.

The first phase of the project includes the construction of a terminal and a runway with capacity of 25 million passengers annually.

Giau said the committee has asked the Prime Minister to propose the National Assembly a special mechanism, which would allocate investment capital for resettlement and site clearance before getting the project's approval.

To make it work, the National Assembly would create the legal basis by adding the proposal to the resolution of the socio-economic development plan for the period of 2016 to 2020.

According to the resolution, approved by the National Assembly in June, Long Thanh International Airport would be the most important airport of the country and an international hub in the region.

After completing its construction by 2050, Long Thanh International Airport would have a capacity of 100 million of passengers and five million tonnes of cargo per year. Total investment capital for the project is estimated to be VND336.6 trillion (US$16 billion).