ACV to play key role in Tan Son Nhat International Airport expansion?

The MoT proposed assigning ACV to carry out key tasks at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport project

In the document sent to the prime minister on capital mobilisation and the schedule of developing Tan Son Nhat International Airport project, the Ministry of Transport (MoT) said that if the project called for private investment, it would take nearly two years to carry out the procurement procedures to select investors.

Accordingly, it is very difficult to improve the capacity of the airport to 50 million passengers by 2022, as the airport is already overloaded.

Therefore, the ministry proposed to assign ACV to develop Terminal 3 first in 2018-2020 with the annual capacity of 20 million passengers on the area handed over by the Ministry of Defence. ACV will also develop two components, which, according to assessments, will be impossible to make profit, but must be built. They include a water reservoir and pump station in 2018-2019, and runways, take-off, and landing ways (25R/07L) in 2019-2020.

The total cost of these components to be implemented by ACV is around VND13-15 trillion ($575-664 million) out of the total VND25 trillion ($1.1 billion) investment capital for Tan Son Nhat International Airport by 2030.

The MoT will announce the list of project components in the technical service area in the northern airport available for private companies. These items include a hangar, food processing facility, cargo airport, and logistics facilities. The investors for these component projects will be selected in 2018-2020 before officially starting construction in 2022.

Meanwhile, the transport system, lake, park, and the drainage system outside the airport will be assigned to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee to implement. This component includes land clearance, which should be started in 2019 to be finished in 2022, along with Terminal 3.

Another reason that the Ministry of Transport assigned ACV to develop the major project components of Tan Son Nhat International Airport is that the corporation has collected enough funds for the task from the revenue of its 21 operating airports.

Lai Xuan Thanh, chairman of ACV, said that based on the business plan for 2018-2025, dividend will be paid at 9 per cent a year, and ACV could mobilise around VND90.838 trillion ($4 billion), excluding the available VND16.84 trillion ($0.75 billion) in cash. Thereby, ACV could spend VND36 trillion ($1.6 billion) on Long Thanh International Airport.

According to Deputy Minister Le Dinh Tho, the MoT has directed Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) to assess the role of ACV in management, investment, and the operation of aviation infrastructure before and after equitisation.

“Based on this report, the Ministry of Transport will announce the list of privatised projects before organising bidding and selecting investors in order to maintain equality and transparency,” said Tho.