Start work on Long Thanh airport terminal this month: PM

Selection of the contractor to build the new Long Thanh International Airport’s first terminal should be completed soon so that work can begin this month, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has ordered.

The PM’s instructions are made in a document reviewing the July meeting of the national steering committee on major transport sector projects.

He tasked relevant ministries, the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC), state-run Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), and other relevant agencies with facilitating progress of the airport being built in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Chinh lauded ACV, the project investor, for the quick progress made thus far, but said more efforts were needed to meet its deadlines.

Among three consortiums that registered to build the terminal, one led by Turkish conglomerate IC Ictas is the only one that met all technical requirements, ACV had announced early this month. Of the 10 firms that comprise the consortium named Vietur, nine are Vietnamese.

ACV said that the consortium will have to join the second bidding round for financial details soon, as the only candidate.

South Korea's Heerim Architects & Planners has signed a “construction-phase supervision and advisory contract” for the passenger terminal, according to the Korea Economic Daily.

Located in Dong Nai province, about 40 kilometers east of Ho Chi Minh City, the Long Thanh International Airport is a mega project that is expected to ease the burden on the city’s heavily overloaded Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

The VND336.63 trillion ($14.12 billion) project is divided into three phases. The first phase, worth VND110 trillion ($4.64 billion), will consist of a runway, terminal and auxiliary facilities that can serve 25 million passengers per year.

The terminal is the largest package of the first phase, with an investment of VND35.23 trillion ($1.49 billion). It is expected to be completed in 33 months.

Expedite metro, expressway works

The PM also issued directions for other projects discussed at the meeting. Regarding metro projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, he asked mayors of both two cities to remove all bottlenecks and ensure that the Nhon-Hanoi Station metro line in Hanoi and the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line in HCMC begin operations in late 2023 and early 2024, respectively.

He asked the Ministry of Transport to ensure that work on three sub-projects of the North-South Expressway eastern section is expedited so that they open to traffic this year.

The three sub-projects are: the National Highway 45-Nghi Son Expressway (in the central province of Thanh Hoa); Nghi Son-Dien Chau Expressway (linking the central provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An); and the My Thuan 2 Bridge (connecting the Mekong Delta provinces of Tien Giang and Vinh Long) and My Thuan-Can Tho Expressway (linking Vinh Long province with Can Tho city in the Mekong Delta).