Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính visits Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in HCM City on Saturday to examine construction of the T3 terminal. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Saturday urged speeding up preparations so construction on the T3 Terminal of Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in HCM City can start in the third quarter of this year.

During his field trip to the airport, the Government leader asked ministries, agencies and HCM City closely coordinate to handle congestion at the airport, especially after COVID-19 as trade activities will increase.

In recent years, the number of passengers travelling via Tân Sơn Nhất airport has increased strongly, nearly doubling its designed capacity.

After the pandemic is put under control, the number of passengers at airports has increased rapidly. In the first six months of the year, the number of travellers at airports across the country reached 40.7 million, a year-on-year increase of 56.8 per cent. The airports are projected to welcome 87.8 million passengers for the whole year, up 190 per cent in comparison with 2021.

The growth in the number of passengers after the pandemic and during the summer has shown the strong recovery of the economy, the aviation industry and tourism activities. However, it caused an overload at major airports like Nội Bài in Hà Nội and Tân Sơn Nhất in HCM City.

In 2020, the Government approved the project to build T3 Terminal at Tân Sơn Nhất airport at a cost of VNĐ10.99 trillion (US$470.5 million), using the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV)’s budget. Construction is expected to take 37 months.

Once operational, it will be able to serve up to 20 million passengers annually, according to the Prime Minister’s Decision 657/QD-TTg, dated May 19, 2020, that gave the green light to the project.

The new facility will handle domestic flights, helping to ease pressure on T1 Terminal that is currently overloaded and to improve service quality.

However, implementation of the project has been delayed due to some obstacles such as site clearance and procedures relating to land use planning.

PM Chính assigned Deputy PM Lê Văn Thành to supervise the project, and the Ministry of National Defence to complete site clearance this month.

The Ministry of Transport was tasked with overseeing the construction.

The Government leader urged for the construction to be completed in September 2024 at the latest. — VNS