The Ministry of Defence's will hand over land to HCM City for construction of Terminal 3 at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport. — Photo sggp.org.vn

HCM CITY – The Ministry of Transport has called on the Ministry of Defence to hand over land to the HCM City People’s Committee to soon start work on passenger terminal 3 at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport.

The construction of the terminal was expected to start last December, but the State-owned Airports Corporation of Việt Nam (ACV) said it had not got the 16ha of land required for it and possessed by the defence ministry.

The transport ministry wanted the People’s Committee of Tân Bình District, where the airport is situated, to urgently submit the documents to the municipal Department of Natural Resources and Environment to then submit to the City People’s Committee to issue the notice, the decision of revoking land, compensation plan and other procedures in accordance with legal regulations.

It urged the ACV to allocate funds for compensation, support and resettlement of displaced people and collaborate with relevant units to carry them out.

T3 will have a softly curved roof stretching from the terminal to the garden at the centre of the commercial-office complex, reminiscent of the traditional tunic, the áo dài.

According to the ACV, it will ensure convenient transportation for passengers and easy access to many amenities and shopping facilities.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính had ordered the construction of T3 to be started in the third quarter of 2022 and completed by September 2024 amid the growing complaints of overloading at the country’s largest airport.

He also instructed the defence ministry to hand over the 16.05ha of land needed for the terminal and another 11.89ha for a road linking Trần Quốc Hoàn and Cộng Hoà streets near the airport.

The new terminal will be able to serve up to 20 million passengers annually, according to Prime Minister's Decision 657/QĐ-TTg issued in May 2020, which gave the green light to the project.

It is expected to improve service quality and handle domestic flights, helping ease pressure on T1, which is currently overloaded.

Construction of T3 is under the supervision of the State steering committee for nationally important projects, which must be carried out safely without corruption or losses, and all involved agencies must complete procedures as soon as possible. — VNS