Dong Nai (VNA)🐬 – Construction of the Long Thanh International Airport must begin no later than 2019 so that the airport can offer its first services in 2025, said Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung.

To meet the deadlines, the southern province of Dong Nai, which houses the airport, should coordinate with the Ministry of Transport and other relevant ministries and agencies to promptly complete compensation and resettlement work, the official said during his field trip to the project’s area on July 9. He described the project, which is set to become Vietnam's largest airport, as significant to the country as well as the Southern Key Economic Region in particular. Trinh Van Vinh, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, suggested developing specific mechanisms that help stablise the lives of residents in the project’s area after they move to their new places. At a working session the same day, representatives of the Transport Ministry, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam and relevant units agreed with Dong Nai province’s proposal to form a sub-project on land clearance and resettlement. Vinh said the sub-project should be carried out right in 2016 to ensure the project’s progress, explaining that it takes at least three years to complete land clearance. The three-phase project covers a total area of 5,000 hectares in Binh Son, Suoi Trau, Cam Duong, Long An, Long Phuoc and Bau Can communes of Long Thanh district. The airport is expected to handle 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo by 2025 in the first phase, which includes the construction of a runway, a terminal and auxiliary facilities. The second and third phases will build more runways and terminals to bring the total capacity to 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo a year. It will be constructed as a category 4F airport in line with the standard codes of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The airport aims to ease the overload at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, which serves up to 36 million passengers annually despite its designed capacity of only 25 million. Total investment capital for the project is estimated at 336.63 trillion VND (16.03 billion USD). Of which, 114.45 trillion VND (5.45 billion USD) will be spent on the first phase. Project resources will be sourced from the State budget, the aviation sector’s equitisation capital, official development assistance (ODA), public-private partnership capital and other sources in line with the law.-VNA