HCMC-Long Thanh airport railway project seeks foreign investors

A 38 km light railway connecting Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Thiem urban area with Long Thanh international airport in Dong Nai province is seeking foreign investors.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh on Wednesday directed the Ministry of Transport to partner with authorities of Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province and HCMC to establish Thu Thiem-Long Thanh international airport and Bien Hoa-Vung Tau light rails.

The HCMC-Long Thanh project will be capitalised at VND40.5 trillion ($1.77 billion).

The 84 km Bien Hoa-Vung Tau railway, worth VND50 trillion ($2.19 billion), begins at Trang Bom station in Bien Hoa town of Dong Nai and ends at Cai Mep-Thi Vai port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

Both projects are on the transport ministry’s proposed list of national projects seeking foreign investment in the period 2021-2025 and included in its railway network development plan for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050.

Dong Nai authorities last December asked for government permission to invest in the two projects under the form of public-private partnership (PPP).

According to the railway plan 2021-2030, there will be four railway lines in southern Vietnam by 2030, namely the two mentioned-above railways, the 174 km HCMC-Can Tho route (from An Binh station to Cai Rang station), and the 128 km HCMC-Loc Ninh line (from Di An station to Hoa Lu border gate at the Vietnam-Cambodia border).

Also on Wednesday, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) kicked off construction on the Long Thanh international airport’s passenger terminal which can accommodate 25 million passengers.

The VND336,630 billion (about $16 billion) Long Thanh airport has an annual capacity of 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo.

The project is divided into three phases, of which the first phase costs $5.45 billion and is set to be up and running in 2025. This comprises of the construction of take-off and landing runways, parking lots, air traffic control centers, cargo terminals, two six-lane roadways connecting the airport to the National Highway 51 and the HCMC-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway.

Long Thanh airport, about 40 km east of HCMC, will be Vietnam’s largest when completed, helping to ease the traffic density of Tan Son Nhat airport in HCMC.