Vietnam remains firm on controversial (d tranh ci)

airport project
Central government wants to go ahead with a multi-billion dollar plan to build
the Long Thanh Airport in Dong Nai Province, as the project is set to be voted
by lawmakers in June
The Ministry of Transport has rejected proposals (k hoch xut)
by a group of constituents (c tri) who want to expand the current
Tan Son Nhat airport instead of building a new one in Dong Nai
Province.
Plans for the new airport also envisage (ng u vi) building a
new golf course at Tan Son Nhat on land that critics say could be
used for airport expansion instead.
In response to constituents in Tan Binh District where Tan Son Nhat is
located who say they have no need for a golf course, the ministry
has argued (chng t) that the construction of the Long Thanh
airport will satisfy demands that Tan Son Nhat cannot because the
number of passengers is increasing.
In a petition (li kin ngh) last month, the constituents said Vietnam
should not build Long Thanh airport, which is expected to cost at
least US$7 billion in the first stage because the country is still poor.
Vietnam should not use official development assistance (tr gip) to
build the airport while the Tan Son Nhat airport has not even been
fully exploited (khai thc) yet, they said.
They also demanded a revocation (thu hi) of plans to turn the
airports buffer zone into a golf course instead of using it to expand
the current airport.
In its response, the transport ministry said Tan Son Nhat airport
served (phc v) 20 million passengers in 2013 and it would be
overloaded soon.
Expanding Tan Son Nhat to serve 40-45 million passengers a year
will be costly and unfeasible (khng th lm c) because it is

located in the residential area only seven kilometers from the city
center, Tuoi Tre (Youth) quoted a ministry document as saying.
The transport ministry said Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong
and Ba Ria - Vung Tau provinces are major airline transport markets
that link to bustling (hi thc) air transport routes in Southeast Asia.
A major international airport is necessary to meet domestic and
regional demand and Long Thanh is a better place than other airports
in the area, it said.
Regarding (i vi) the golf course project at Tan Son Nhat, the
ministry said it was approved under proposals from the ministries of
defense, construction and planning and investment after being
reviewed by other relevant ministries.
New airport
At a meeting to discuss the construction of Long Thanh airport on
March 27, transport minister Dinh La Thang reaffirmed (xc nhn 1
ln na) that the project is necessary for the countrys development.
He instructed relevant agencies to clarify the necessity of the project
and the choice to build it in Long Thanh instead of Bien Hoa, Can
Tho or Da Lat and why Tan Son Nhat should not be expanded
instead.
According to the Airports Corporation of Vietnam, the Long Thanh
airport is expected to serve up to 100 million passengers and five
million tons of goods a year by 2030, becoming a major airport in
Southeast Asia.
The first stage is scheduled for completion in 2020 to serve 25
million passengers and 1.2 million tons of goods a year, with an
investment of $7 billion.
In January, Dong Nai authorities met with relevant agencies to
discuss the resettlement of local residents for the Long Thanh airport
project.

A total of 5,381 households of more than 17,000 residents will be

affected by the project, including 3,321 households that will have
all their land revoked.
Compensation for affected residents is expected to be more than
VND20.77 trillion.
The project is set to be built on an area of 5,000 hectares (12,400
acres) overlapping six communes in Dong Nais Long Thanh District.
At a government teleconference last December, authorities in HCMC
and Dong Nai both supported the construction of Long Thanh airport.
Without a new airport, Tan Son Nhat will be overloaded in two or
three years, said HCMC mayor Le Hoang Quan.
Dinh Quoc Thai, chairman of the Dong Nai Peoples Committee, said
the government should facilitate the Long Thanh airport project so
the province will develop stronger and more quickly soon.
However, Nguyen Xuan Thanh, director of the Public Policy Program at
the HCMC-based Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, told Dat Viet
newspaper that his team had assessed the project and found it to be
financially-ineffective.
"No investor is interested in investing in the airport under a BOT
[build-operate-transfer] project. It will need to use ODA [official
development assistant]. The problem then is that the whole country
has to pay the debt.