HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City has set up aspecial task force to look into the expansion of the Tan Son Nhat Airport andsubmit to the Government in early September, the city’s top leader has said.

[HCM City agrees to expand capacity of Tan Son Nhat airport]

Speaking with 200 voters in Cu Chi district last weekend,Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan said the city hashired eight leading aviation experts and architects to make studies onexpansion of the Tan Son Nhat airport to the golf course. At the end of thisyear, the city’s authorities will hold a meeting with Government officials todiscuss how to effectively use the golf course land to expand the airport.

Since the airport has only one gate on Truong Son road, trafficcongestion is inevitable, he said. “The airport needs at least one more gate,”he stressed.

He told voters that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had held ameeting with 15 relevant ministries, industries and HCM City to discuss if thegolf course should be kept and development of the airport.

The PM instructed them to hire an international consultancy forthe expansion work and report to him by the end of the year, Nhan said.

Deputy Minister of Defence Le Chiem assured that if theGovernment wants to use the golf course for developing the aviation industry,his ministry will be ready to transfer it, he added.

The special task force includes Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Thien Tong,former head of the HCM City Polytechnic University’s aviation technologyfaculty; Dr Tran Tien Anh, the current head; former director of Tan Son NhatAirport, Phan Tuong; pilot and former deputy director of Vietnam Airlines, NguyenThanh Trung; pilot and principal of Vietnam Airlines’ Flight Training Centre,Nguyen Nam Lien; and architect Ngo Viet Nam Son.

The task force will review two plans to expand the airportnorthwards. The first involves building one more runway and the second involvesexpanding the parking lot, building more terminals and streamline the airportmanagement to improve efficiency.

“We prefer the second plan because building one more runway willbe very expensive and it is not necessary,” Trung said.

With its two existing runways, the airport can double capacitywith efficient management, he said.

He pointed out that the two runways now function like onebecause two aircraft cannot land and take-off at the same time. Besides, themandatory gap between aeroplanes of 16km is too large and causes each landingand take-off to take five minutes.

“If we have good management and the gap is eight kilometres, TanSon Nhat can receive 30 aircraft each hour instead of the current 12.”

Thetask force would identify the best expansion plan and also make plans to easetraffic congestion around the airport, he said. Son would be in charge of thelatter, he added.-VNA