PM pushes Long Thanh Airport construction pace

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has instructed ministries, state agencies, stakeholders, and the southern province of Dong Nai to speed up work on Long Thanh International Airport to complete the project as scheduled.

Inspecting the key national project in Dong Nai on Sunday, the PM asked provincial authorities to complete the handover of ground for the first stage of construction by the end of the first quarter.

The government leader said that by the end of the second quarter, the sites for logistics and access roads for the airport must be ready.

Prior to his requests, Transport Minister Nguyen Van Thang reported that site clearance was lagging behind, with the passenger terminal, cargo terminal, runway, and aircraft apron facing procedural problems, meaning works could fall behind schedule.

The minister noted that the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) canceled a tender in December for the airport’s passenger terminal because none of the bids met the necessary requirements, so the process needs too be restarted.

He said foreign construction contractors, including Taisei from Japan, Hyundai, and Samsung C&T, are interested in the rebidding package, but ACV needs to prepare other options to select a qualified contractor.

Therefore, the PM asked relevant ministries and State agencies to urgently work on solutions to speed up second tender. He demanded reports from concerned units on why the first bidding process failed, and reminded ACV to prepare alternatives to avoid a similar failure.

In a related development, the Ministry of Planning and Investment has urged ACV to promptly carry out the rebidding package because the passenger terminal is a vital part of the project, and delays could affect the whole construction process.

The VND35,233 billion ($1.49 billion) package includes design, construction, and equipment installation for the terminal. It is classed as the biggest package for the first phase of the airport.

In October 2022, ACV held a pre-bidding conference, with around 10 contractors from Germany, Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam taking part. However, when the bidding closed on November 8, it was found that related files were not qualified under Article 17 of the Law on Bidding. Thus, ACV extended the deadline for bids to the end of November.

ACV then received only one bid from a consortium of companies: Coteccons, Vinaconex, Centra, Phuc Hung Holdings, REE, Hoa Binh Construction, and Hawee. ACV decided to cancel the bidding in mid-December as the dossier did not meet all requirements.

A key infrastructure project in southern Vietnam, Long Thanh International Airport has a designed capacity of 100 million passengers per year. It is expected to help ease overloading at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. The new airport will cover more than 5,580 hectares in Dong Nai's Long Thanh district.

Construction work began in 2021 and the new airport is set to open in 2025. The second phase is scheduled for completion by 2050.

The new airport is located about 40 kilometers east of HCMC, Vietnam’s southern economic hub.