Dong Nai (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham MinhChinh on August 31 attended the ground-breaking ceremony of three main biddingpackages of Long Thanh International Airport project in the southernprovince of Dong Nai, and Terminal 3 of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi MinhCity, with total investment of about 52 trillion VND (2.15 billion USD).

In his remarks at the ceremony in Dong Nai province, the PM stressed that infrastructure development, especially transport infrastructure,is one of the three strategic breakthroughs set by the Party and the State.

He said that Vietnam’s aviation infrastructurehas been upgraded and expanded. However, it has yet to catch up with the developmentof the country and the world as well, with overloads seen at many airports,especially Tan Son Nhat.

The first phase of the Long Thanh InternationalAirport and Terminal 3 of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport play acrucial role in the national network of international airports, as well as innational defence and security, and socio-economic development in the SouthernKey Economic Zone in particular and the country in general, the PM stressed.

Once completed, they are expected to contribute toturning Vietnam into a major transport centre of the region and the world, andraising national competitiveness, he noted.

The PM asked the Ministries of Transport,Construction, Natural Resources and Environment, and National Defence, and the Committeefor Management of State Capital at Enterprises, the People’s Committees of HCMCity and Dong Nai province, and other relevant ministries and agencies to stepup their supervisions and inspections, quickly remove roadblocks to the implementationof the projects, and ensure their quality, safety, efficiency and progress.

Notably, the People’s Committees of HCM City and Dong Naiprovince need to speed up other transport projects linked to airport terminalsto ensure infrastructure harmony and efficiency, he stressed.

Corruption, wastefulness and other negative phenomena mustbe prevented, and legal rights and interests of people must be guaranteed, PM Chinhsaid.

The above-said bidding packages include theconstruction and installation of equipment at terminals, runways, taxiways andaircraft aprons of the Long Thanh International Airport, and at Terminal 3 of the Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Covering a total area of more than 5,580 hectares, the LongThanh airport will spread across six communes in Long Thanh district of Dong Naiprovince. The airport’s total investment is 336.63 trillion VND, with constructiondivided into three phases.

In the first phase, a runway and one passengerterminal along with other supporting facilities will be built at a cost of109.1 trillion VND to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes ofcargo each year.

Once fully completed by2050, the airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers and 5 milliontonnes of cargo annually.

Located 40km east of HCM City, the airport is expectedto relieve overloading at the Tan Son Nhat airport, nowthe country’s largest airport.

Terminal 3 of the Tan Son Nhat airport is estimated tocost nearly 11 trillion VND. It is expected to become operational in the secondquarter of 2025, handling domestic flights and up to 20 million passengersannually.

The number of passengers going through the Tan Son Nhatairport has surged in recent years to nearly double its designed capacity. Theairport was designed to handle 25 million passengers a year by 2020, but it hasbeen receiving almost 40 million a year since 2017.

The airport has two terminals now, with T1 servingdomestic flights and T2 handling international flights. T1 can serve up to 15million passengers a year and T2, 10 million./.