Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) is working on a project to expandCam Ranh Airport in Khanh Hoa province to enable it to handle 2.6million passengers a year, the Saigon Times Daily reported.

Thenumber of passengers going through the airport in the central provincein 2013 almost reached its capacity. According to the Civil AviationAuthority of Vietnam, the number of passengers at Cam Ranh Airportreached 1.5 million passengers last year compared to its capacity of 1.6million passengers.

The expansion plan comprises building a newrunway at Cam Ranh Airport as a plan to shutdown the airport from Juneuntil August for upgrading the existing runway will heavily affect theprovince’s economy, especially the local tourism sector. Besides, theairport is currently used for military purpose.

ACV has alsoproposed developing a new terminal under the build-operate-transfer(BOT) format and Khanh Hoa province be responsible for investment in thenew runway.

The expansion project is estimated to cost around 4.5 trillion VND (over 211 million USD).

Ministerof Transport Dinh La Thang has told ACV to map out two investment plansfor the project to expand Cam Ranh Airport, with the first implementedunder the public-private partnership (PPP) and the corporation requiredto assess the value of the airport as capital contribution to a ventureto carry out the project with investors while the second will beundertaken under the BOT format.

The airport expansion projecthas attracted a number of foreign companies. In May last year, USairport development company ADC & HAS worked with the Ministry ofTransport over cooperation in expanding Cam Ranh Airport.

CamRanh Airport will be able to handle modern aircraft, including BoeingB767-300, B777, B747 by 2020 in line with an already-approved zoningplan for the airport.-VNA