Construction of the first phase of a new international airport to serve Vietnam’s second metropolis, Ho Chi Minh City, is to start in August, according to several local media reports, citing remarks from the Airports Corporation of Vietnam, made on Thursday.
The facility, at Long Thanh in Dong Nai province, should roughly halve the current airport transfer time for international visitors to the Grand Ho Tram Strip casino resort located southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, noted Walt Power, chief executive of that venue’s promoter, in an interview with GGRAsia last year.
The new airport will be approximatly 78 kilometres (49 miles) northwest of the Ho Tram Strip. Ho Chi Minh City’s current air hub, which is north of the city centre, is about 112 kilometres from Ho Tram.
The first phase of Long Thanh International Airport will take 39 months to construct, reported Vietnam News Agency citing the airports corporation, the state-owned operator of Vietnam’s airports and an investor in the Long Thanh airport scheme. The initial phase will provide a runway and passenger terminal capable of handling 25 million passengers a year, said media reports.
Selection of a contractor – from among three competing consortiums – is due to be concluded this month.
The multi-phase Long Thanh airport scheme will be across 5,500 hectares (13,591 acres) with a likely investment budget of VND336.63 trillion (US$14.3 billion). Once all work is completed by 2050, the air hub should be able to handle 100 million passengers annually, local media reports said.
A working group comprising various state-level officials, has been established to oversee the work and report progress to the country’s prime minister, said in April government news outlet VGP.
