Accordingly, land acquisition, compensation, assistance and resettlement for the Long Thanh International Airport project must be done urgently, Dung instructed. Besides assigning the Ministry of Transport (MoT) to speed up the feasibility study report for the first phase to submit to the National Assembly for approval in late 2019, Dung asked the ministry to host and coordinate with the Dong Nai People’s Committee, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and relevant agencies to check the project, ensuring the synchronous connection of transport infrastructure systems inside and outside the airport.
Following the instruction, Transport Minister Nguyen Van The asked the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) to consolidate the Long Thanh Airport’s project management unit. It could hire more experts to better consult for the project.
The also required CAAV to submit several options to mobilize investment capital for the project, clarifying the strengths and weaknesses of each option then submit it to MoT and the government for approval.
Regarding the project to upgrade Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the country’s busiest airport located in Ho Chi Minh City, head of the MoT’s Planning and Investment Department Vu Duy Lam said the Airport Design and Construction Consultancy Company and CAAV were finishing a detailed plan for upgrading the airport.
Minister The tasked Deputy Minister Le Dinh Tho to work with the Ho Chi Minh City administration and relevant agencies to publish the detailed plan in early September.
Under the detailed plan, CAAV needs to clearly point out the roadmap to implement the project and the sources of investment capital, The added.
Leaders in Hanoi are also urging transport authorities to complete an expansion plan for the Noi Bai International Airport in the capital city. They also want a third terminal and runway.
Overloaded airports
According to the International Air Transport Association, as the world’s seventh fastest-growing air travel market during the 2013-2017 period, Vietnam saw a remarkable growth rate of 17 percent in 2017, more than double Asia’s average growth rate of 6.7 percent. It has been projected that Vietnam will soon be among the world’s top five markets with strongest passenger growth.
Deputy Transport Minister Le Dinh Tho said that such huge potential is an opportunity for Vietnam’s aviation industry to continue taking off but is also a considerable challenge.
In the Tan Son Nhat, for example, Tho said, the airport has become seriously overloaded, forcing many flights to wait in the air to land. The airport has a design capacity of 25 million passengers, but the passenger throughput in 2016 was 32 million and in 2017 over 36 million.
As the state budget is limited, the aviation industry thus needs a huge private investment capital to improve infrastructure. More private investors have recently also shown their interest in the airport projects after Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved in February the revision of the national aviation transport development plan till 2020 with a vision to 2030, which makes the industry more attractive to private investors.
Under the plan, Vietnam’s aviation industry will exploit 23 airports with an annual traffic of 144 million passengers by 2020 and 28 airports with an annual traffic of 308 million passengers by 2030. The number of aircraft will grow by more than 220 units by 2020 and 400 units by 2030, increasing by 70-100 units compared to the previous plan.