Vietnam premier approves investment report on multibillion-dollar int’l airpor
Vietnam premier approves investment report on multibillion-dollar int’l airpor
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung gave the go-ahead Wednesday to an investment report on the construction of Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai.
The report contains propositions from the Ministry of Transport and the State Assessment Council on the airport project, which aims to set up Long Thanh as an important gateway to Vietnam and an aviation hub in Southeast Asia.
The airport should also qualify for 4F classification by the International Civil Aviation Organization, according to the investment report.
Long Thanh International Airport will be located in Long Thanh District, 50km east of Ho Chi Minh City, upon completion.
During its first phase, ending by 2025, the 5,000-hectare terminal is expected to receive 25 million passengers and handle 1.2 million metric tons of goods a year, in a bid to share the burden of the overloaded Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, according to the report.
The Long Thanh airport is hoped to serve 100 million passengers and handle five million metric tons of goods annually no later than 2030.
The first phase of the project is estimated to cost US$7.83 billion.
The Prime Minister has assigned Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang to report on the investment plan on behalf of the government to the National Assembly during the latter’s session this month.
The National Assembly will make an in-principle decision on the project.
A plan to build an airport in the south-central resort city of Phan Thiet also won in-principle approval from the Prime Minister last month.
The Phan Thiet airport is projected to serve 500,000 passengers and handle 10,000 metric tons of goods a year by 2020. It is hoped that it will receive one million passengers per annum by 2030.
The VND5.6 trillion (US$263.58 million) airport is expected to open to passengers by 2017.
Vietnam currently has 21 operating airports, including eight international terminals.
Many other airport projects have also been planned, and some localities are slated to have as many as two airports, according to economic newswire VnEconomy.
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