Dong Nai (VNA) - Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on January 9 urged relevant units to accelerate the progress of sub-projects to complet๊e the Long Thanh International Airport project as soon as possible.

In a working session with the units during his inspection trip to the construction site in the southern province of Dong Nai, the Deputy PM hailed efforts made by contractors and workers to ensure the progress of sub-projects, saying that sub-projects No. 1 and No. 2 on constructing office buildings of state management agencies, aviation management facilities, are making good progress. Relevant units need to consider implementing appropriate preferential measures within legal regulations, allowing domestic airlines to establish their own service facilities at the airport, he said. Ha requested all units to make greater efforts and propose specific solutions to ensure that the four sub-projects are completed on schedule as directed by the Prime Minister. Addressing the working session, Minister of Transport Tran Hong Minh said that following the Prime Minister's instructions, the Ministry of Transport has coordinated with the Airport Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) to review, build, and establish a new project timeline and progress plan. According to Minh, sub-project No. 3 is the biggest and most important one in the project with a total investment of over 99 trillion VND (3.9 billion USD). As of now, three out of 16 packages of the sub-project have been basically completed, while seven packages are under construction, three packages are in the process of selecting contractors, and the remaining three packages are still undergoing technical design review. According to ACV, the sub-project consists of two tender packages on infrastructure and passenger terminal with complex technical nature and great value. Especially, the passenger terminal is considered the heart of the airport, featuring numerous complex technical items designed with advanced and modern technology, makes further shortening of the timeline a challenging task. The Long Thanh International Airport is being built on an area of 5,000ha, with a total final capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo annually. Its phase 1 is projected to be put into operation in 2026, with an annual capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo. In phase 2, the airport will be expanded with an additional open-configuration runway and terminal to serve 50 million passengers per year. When phase 3 is completed, the airport will be the largest airport in Vietnam and one of the busiest transit airports in the region. Total investment for the project is estimated at approximately 16 billion USD./.