Nearly all local residents in the areas affected by the Long Thanh International Airport project in the southern province of Dong Nai have expressed their support for the project in an opinion survey.

As many as 4,116 of 4,566 households with 14,400 affected people in six communes – Binh Son, Long An, Suoi Trau, Cam Duong, Long Phuoc and Bau Can – approved the airport construction in the survey recently conducted by the provincial People’s Committee.

The survey also showed the majority of households (3,574) households would want to be relocated to resettlement areas in Loc An-Binh Son and Binh Son if the project is implemented, both of which cover an area of around 282 hectares near the planned airport.

For over 9,200 working-aged individuals, the province said it has designed programmes to help the workforce shift jobs, including the development of three industrial parks close to the future airport.

The multi-billion US dollar Long Thanh airport, which was approved by the Government in 2005, promises to be a driving force for socio-economic development in the southern key economic region.

However, specifics are still under discussion and a construction start day has yet to be set.

In the latest discussions of the project at the National Assembly, deputies demanded clarification on many aspects of the project, including the scale of the airport, passenger estimate calculations, and the reclamation of 2,250 hectares not directly related to the airport.-VNA