Deputy Prime Minister Lê Văn Thành chaired a meeting with relevant authorities on the progress of the Long Thành International Airport project on Saturday. — Photo from Việt Nam Government Portal

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Lê Văn Thành chaired a regular meeting of the Government's Steering Committee for the implementation of Long Thành International Airport project on Saturday, during which he asked for more efforts to ensure the progress of the key project.

According to reports presented at the meeting, the construction bidding packages of piles and foundation are likely to have been completed by September 20 this year, 30-45 days ahead of the schedule. The preparation of total estimate for the design work is also being sped up and is expected to be completed this month.

The Airports Corporation of Việt Nam (ACV) reported that the ground of most of the main construction areas has been handed over to the investors.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the construction progress for drainage, foundation, and piling works in passenger terminal has met the plan.

Deputy PM Thành applauded efforts by units in accelerating the progress of the project, noting that given the importance of the project, no delays at any stage is acceptable.

He asked the ACV to take measures to further speed up progress of the construction site, and demanded the authorities of the southern province of Đồng Nai to complete the site clearance - Phase 1 this month.

He underlined the necessity to renovate the administration of the project’s management board. For other component projects, the Deputy PM requested a thorough review and detailed progress reports at the meeting of the committee next month.

Pile foundations must be done by August 30, while technical design for the US$1.7 trillion passenger terminal must be completed by July 30, so that construction can begin in October, he stressed.

Covering more than 5,580 hectares, Long Thành International Airport will spread across six communes in Long Thành District, Đồng Nai Province. Its construction has been divided into three phases.

In the first phase, a runway and one passenger terminal, along with other supporting facilities, will be built to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo each year. This phase is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

The project started in 2021. Once fully completed in 2050, the airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo annually.

Located 40km to the east of HCM City, the airport is expected to relieve overloading at the southern metropolis’s Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, which is currently the largest in Việt Nam. — VNS