ĐỒNG NAI — The building of Long Thành International Airport must begin by 2019, Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng told the leaders of Đồng Nai Province, where the airport will be located.

The deputy prime minister made the request following his field trip to the location of the future airport in Long Thành District, Đồng Nai Province, on Saturday.

Addressing the meeting attended by the provincials authority, related ministries and agencies, Dũng highlighted the importance of Long Thành International Airport as “a major national project” and urged the province to expedite preparations for its construction.

Vice Chairman of Đồng Nai’s People’s Committee Trần Văn Vĩnh said the province had finished drafting the proposal of a special mechanism for the project, focusing on land acquisition, compensation and relocation policies as well as the construction of infrastructure for relocation and sources of funding.

Vĩnh said this special mechanism was needed to stabilise the lives of affected residents and to step up the progress of the project. The building of the new airport would affect as many as 4,730 households, with a total of 15,000 people, besides other organisations, businesses and religious establishments, he said.

Vĩnh asked the government to either allocate an advance fund to the province to complete the land clearance and construction of resettlement areas or allow the province to borrow money from commercial banks for this purpose.

The amount of money needed to build two resettlement areas and to compensate for the removal of a cemetery at the construction site is VNĐ5.44 trillion (US$ 242 million), according to the province’s estimate.

Deputy Prime Minister Dũng asked the provincial authority to submit a written proposal on these matters to the Government Office.

The government would need to hear the opinions of the related ministries and agencies before giving its approval, Dũng said.

The general director of Airports Corporation of Việt Nam, authorised by the government to be the airport investor, told the meeting that the company had received 14 designs for Long Thành International Airport, all entries in the architecture contest it held from April to June this year.

He said the winning design would be chosen on August 18, suggesting public opinions should not be sought in order to save time.

Deputy Prime Minister Dũng, however, asked the company to gauge public opinion, citing the importance of the project.

“The contestants’ designs should be published online for people to choose. This must be done immediately,” he said.

The airport, set to become Việt Nam’s largest airport, will have a capacity of 100 million passengers and 5 million tonnes of freight per year when it is fully completed by 2050. The first phase, including the construction of a terminal and a runway with a capacity of 25 million passengers per year, is expected to be finished in 2025, after several threats of delays. — VNS