ACV seeks more time for Long Thanh airport terminal construction

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), the investor of Long Thanh International Airport, on Friday asked the Ministry of Transport for additional six months to complete the airport’s passenger terminal.

The investor's proposal means that the airport in the southern province of Dong Nai bordering Ho Chi Minh City could not open in 2025 as planned.

In the proposal, the state-run corporation explained that it needs more time to find capable and experienced contractors for the terminal construction package.

Package No. 5.10 “Construction and Equipment Installation for the Passenger Terminal Building” includes design, construction, and equipment installation for the terminal. With a total investment of VND35,233 billion ($1.49 billion), it is considered the biggest package for the first phase of the airport project.

It was planned to take 990 days, or 33 months, including weekends, holidays, and the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday as prescribed by Vietnamese laws from the effective date of the contract.

On September 24, 2022, the ACV first issued tender invitations for the passenger terminal and then extended the deadline for bids twice to November 30, 2022. However, all tender files it received were not qualified under Article 17 of the Law on Bidding.

Therefore, it planned to issue tender invitations again in March 2023 with contractor selection criteria and contract implementation period unchanged.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha had asked the ACV to determine the time for implementing the terminal package and submit it to the Ministry of Transport and relevant authorities for approval.

Previously, a consortium of foreign design consultants proposed to the ACV the implementation period of 39 months for Package 5.10, including 36 months of construction and six months of trial operation.

The airport project has a total estimated investment of VND336,630 billion ($14.12 billion), with three phases. The first phase will build a runway, a passenger terminal and auxiliary works with a capacity of 25 million passengers a year.

In the second phase, the project will construct an additional runway and terminal to reach a capacity of 50 million passengers a year. The remaining items will be completed in the third phase so that the airport will have a capacity of 100 million visitors a year.

Work began in 2021 and the new airport is set to open in 2025. The second phase is scheduled for completion by 2050. Covering more than 5,580 hectares in Long Thanh district, about 40 kilometers east of HCMC, the new airport is expected to help ease overloading at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC, Vietnam’s southern economic hub.