Work on Long Thanh airport terminal to begin next month

Construction of the Long Thanh International Airport’s first terminal is set to begin next month, according to project investor Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV).

The airport in the southern province of Dong Nai will be the nation’s biggest when complete and will reduce overload of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

Information about the airport terminal’s construction schedule was provided by ACV representatives to provincial authorities when Dong Nai Vice Chairman Vo Tan Duc visited the construction site Thursday.

They said ACV was studying bids submitted by three bidders in June for construction and equipment installation at the terminal. The project investor is also hoping to begin work on the taxiways and aircraft parking areas over the next two months, the executives said.

One of the bidders is CHEC-BCEG-Vietnam, a consortium of nine companies from Vietnam and China led by Chinese firm China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd.

Another is the Hoa Lu group with seven Vietnamese and one Thai firm, is led by local construction giant Coteccons.

The third group, led by Turkish conglomerate IC Istas, has 10 businesses, nine of them Vietnamese.

Long Thanh district, where the airport is located, has basically completed site clearance of 1,810 hectares of the project and 722 hectares for reserved areas. Just one house remains.

Dong Nai Vice Chairman Duc asked the provincial Department of Finance to help district authorities complete the task.

ACV also urged the district to complete site clearance soon for two roads that will link with the airport.

Duc directed district officials to complete site clearance for road No.1 within this month.

The Long Thanh International Airport is a mega project with a total investment of VND336.63 trillion ($14.12 billion) divided into three phases. The first phase, worth VND110 trillion, will consist of a runway, terminal and auxiliary facilities that can serve 25 million passengers per year. The project kicked off in 2021 and is expected to open in 2025.

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.

Three more industrial parks

Meanwhile, Dong Nai province has announced plans to build three more industrial parks to welcome the airport.

In a petition sent to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the province named three projects: Long Duc 3 and Bau Can-Tan Hiep industrial parks in Long Thanh district; and Xuan Que-Song Nhan Industrial Park in the neighboring district of Cam My.

The three projects will cover 6,500 hectares, mostly rubber plantations. They will have 4,000 hectares of industrial real estate once infrastructure construction is completed, according to provincial authorities.

The province currently has 31 industrial parks in operation and eight others on the anvil. Officials have said earlier that the province missed out on some major foreign direct investment (FDI) projects because of a lack of available industrial areas. Current industrial parks have achieved an occupation rate of 85%.

Vietnam’s index of industrial production (IIP) showed signs of recovery with a year-on-year growth of 2.8% in June, but fell 1.2% year-on-year in the first six months of this year, the General Statistics Office (GSO) reported.

Bucking the national trend, Dong Nai’s IIP grew 3.01% year-on-year in the first six months of this year. This growth was driven by a 4.02% increase in mining, 3.3% hike in manufacturing and processing, and 3% rise in water supply and treatment of waste and wastewater. The power production and distribution sector, meanwhile, recorded a negative growth of 2.6% in the first half of the year.