Construction of the third terminal at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport began on Saturday.
The terminal was invested by the state-run Aviation Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) at the cost of nearly VND11,000 billion ($466.4 million).
Attending the launching ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested the investor to complete the project within 2024 and for the investment cost not to increase.
The terminal can receive 20 million passengers per year, raising Tan Son Nhat airport's total capacity to 50 million passengers.
In July, ACV announced the design inspired by the image of an ‘ao dai’ (Vietnamese traditional long dress), one of the country’s cultural symbols, had been selected for the third terminal.
It will have a soft curved roof stretching from the terminal to the garden at the center of the commercial-office complex, reminiscent of the flap of the ‘ao dai’.
The project comprising a 4-kilometer road connecting Tran Quoc Hoan and Cong Hoa streets at the cost of more than VND4,800 billion ($203.5 million) was also deployed on the same day.
This route is expected to be completed in August 2024, connecting with Tan Son Nhat's third terminal and reducing traffic congestion at the gateway to the international airport.
Under a plan until 2020, Tan Son Nhat airport has a capacity of 25 million passengers per year, but since 2017 has welcomed nearly 40 million passengers, causing frequent overload, especially during the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.
This year, the total number of visitors through Tan Son Nhat is estimated at more than 34 million.
Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh had said in May that top priority must be given to opening Long Thanh International Airport by 2025 as a key national project in southern Vietnam.
The new airport, located in Dong Nai province about 40 kilometers to the east of HCMC, will help relieve overload at Tan Son Nhat airport. It is designed to receive 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo a year in its first phase. Roughly $5 billion is estimated for the first phase investment.
Once complete by 2050, it will be able to handle 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo a year.