Deputy PM assigns deadline for site clearance at Long Thanh Int’l Airport project

Hanoi (VNA) – Handover of land for Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai must be completed next June, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh ordered at a meeting with relevant ministries and the provincial People’s Committee held via video teleconference on December 9.

Speaking at the event, Ministry of Transport Nguyen Van The voiced concerns over slow progress on clearing site for the project which started in 2018. The development of resettlement zones has failed to complete this year and may last through May 2022, causing delays in relocating affected residents, he said.

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) sets to start ground levelling in March next year. The process alone requires over 2,500 hectares of land, including 1,810 hectares of land for construction of the airport and 722 hectares in reserve.

The project has received some 1,280 hectares, or 71 percent, of the needed land from Dong Nai in the first handover. Another 200 hectares will be handed over before December 15.

Deputy PM Thanh stressed that Long Thanh International Airport is the nation’s key project given priority attention by the Government, and required relevant ministries, agencies, the provincial administration and contractors to focus on implementing the project.

He urged them to stick to the schedule, saying “only one unit staying off track can slow others down.”

He agreed with the Ministry of Transport’s proposal to establish a steering committee for the project as part of the effort to accelerate its progress.

He demanded the Dong Nai People’s Committee to hand over 1,810 hectares of land for ground levelling this month, while the remaining 700 hectares must be released in January 2022. Site clearance for the project must be finished in June next year.

The Ministry of Transport has to assign a specific deadline for each of the project’s components, the official said, adding that the goal is to complete the first phase of the airport before January 2025.

Long Thanh International Airport will be built in three phases over three decades, and is expected to become the country’s largest airport.

In the first phase, one runway with a length of 4,000m, taxiways, an apron, and a passenger terminal with other auxiliary works sprawling 373,000 sq.m will be built to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo each year.

Total cost for the airport construction amounts to 336.63 trillion VND (14.5 billion USD), with the first phase needing over 109 trillion VND./.