HCM CITY — The Airports Corporation of Việt Nam (ACV) and the joint venture JFV (Japan, France and Việt Nam) have signed a contract on a consultancy and feasibility study for the first phase of the proposed Long Thành International Airport in the southern province of Đồng Nai.

JFV, which was selected by ACV after six months of bidding procedures, includes leading consulting and design firms with years of experience in the airport construction industry.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Lại Xuân Thanh, ACV chairman, said that ACV had been conducting international bidding procedures since November 2017.

Thanh said the feasibility study would be carried out from June 2018 to June 2019 and would be assessed from July 2019 to September 2019 before being submitted to the National Assembly for review in October 2019.

The ACV is taking necessary steps so that the construction of the airport could begin at the end of 2020.

“The airport will be completed and put into use in 2025 at the latest,” he noted.

In March, the Ministry of Transport selected a lotus-shaped design for a passenger terminal developed by Heerim Architects & Planners Co. Ltd from South Korea for the project.

Lê Đình Thọ, deputy minister of transport, said that Long Thành International Airport would be the country’s key international gateway, aiming to become one of the biggest aviation transportation hubs of the Southeast Asian region.

Thọ asked Heerim Architects & Planners Co., Ltd to work with JFV to translate the design into reality under the agreement signed with the main consultant and the investor of the airport project.

He also asked ACV to ensure the quality of the feasibility study so that it could be submitted to Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and the National Assembly in late 2019.

In addition to State budget funds (to be used for land clearance and building of State offices at the airport), investment capital for the project will come from the Việt Nam Air Traffic Management Corporation and private sources.

ACV will ensure 50 per cent of the total capital for construction of the first phase to build major works at the airport, including runways, aircraft parking areas, underground fuel loading system, a passenger terminal, a cargo terminal, and a VIP passenger lounge.

The remaining capital will be mobilised from loans and other sources, he said.

The JFV includes Japan Airport Consultants (JAC-Japan), Nippon Koei (NK-Japan), Oriental Consultants Global (OCG-Japan), ADP Ingenierie (ADPi-France), Airport Design and Construction Consultancy (ADCC-Việt Nam), and Transport Engineering Design Inc Company (TEDI-Việt Nam).

Covering a total area of more than 5,580 hectares, Long Thành International Airport will be located in six communes in Long Thành District in Đồng Nai Province.

The airport’s total investment is VNĐ336.63 trillion (US$14.76 billion), with construction divided into three phases.

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

In the second phase, one more runway and another passenger terminal will be built to serve around 50 million passengers and 1.5 million tonnes of cargo a year.

After the third phase, the airport will be able to serve 100 million passengers and 5 million tonnes of cargo a year. — VNS