HCM City (VNA) – Construction of Long Thanh International Airport inthe southern province of Dong Nai at an earlier date than initially plannedwill help reduce overcrowding in Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son NhatInternational Airport, experts have said.

At a seminarco-organised in HCM City on March 28 by Tien Phong Newspaper, the Ministry ofTransport and the provincial People’s Committee of Dong Nai, the experts saidthe opening of the Long Thanh airport will allow the Tan Son Nhat airport todecrease its number of flights and have time to upgrade and expand later.

Deputy Ministerof Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong held that creating favourable conditions for theconstruction of Long Thanh International Airport will offer a great opportunityfor growth of the aviation market.

According to theInternational Air Transport Association (IATA), Vietnam will become one of thefive fastest-growing markets in the world in terms of additional passengers peryear in the 2015-2035 period.

At the seminar,many experts expressed concern about policies and measures related to capitalresources, modes of investment, land clearance, resettlement and compensationto landowners.

Nguyen NgocHung, Deputy Director of Dong Nai’s Department of Natural Resources andEnvironment, said the airport project will be the largest one in the provincesince 1975, which will cover an area of 5,000ha, including 1,800ha of rubbertrees.

Relocatingresidents will not be a problem because most of them have agreed to move andcooperate in land clearance and compensation, he said.

However, about15,000 people, most of them farmers and workers at rubber plantations, need tobe resettled and given new jobs.

Land for two newresidential areas is being recovered and vocational training for people ofworking age will be offered, Hung said.

He suggested theGovernment set a clear policy related to land prices to avoid unreasonableprice hikes and ensure profits for residents.

The long waitfor the start of this project has affected the living conditions of localpeople, because they don’t know when it is going to be built, said Duong TrungQuoc, a National Assembly deputy.

“We need to drawup plans for urban planning instead of focusing on the airport project only,”he said, adding that the government should call for their contribution and seetheir participation as critical for long-term growth.

The Long Thanhairport has been designed to handle about 100 million passengers and fivemillion tonnes of goods each year. Total costs are estimated at 336.6 trillionVND (14.8 billion USD). Construction of the first phase is expected to begin in2020 with completion in 2025.

The firstterminal to be completed in the first phase of the project is expected tohandle 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of goods a year.-VNA