A rendering of the proposed Long Thành International Airport in the southern province of Đồng Nai. Photo courtesy of Airports Corporation of Việt Nam (ACV)

ĐỒNG NAI — The administrative boundaries of six communes in Long Thành District, the southern province of Đồng Nai, will be officially changed starting next month to make space for the planned construction of Long Thành International Airport.

The changes were approved by the province’s People’s Council at its meeting on Tuesday. The six communes are Suối Trầu, Bình Sơn, Cẩm Đường, Long An, Long Phước and Bàu Cạn.

Long Thành District People’s Committee sent land acquisition decisions to 5,283 households in the communes.

From next month, Suối Trầu Commune will be no longer on Long Thành District’s administrative map as 1,385ha of the commune’s area is included in the project, leaving just 126ha. Only parts of the other five communes will be affected.

Chairman of the commune People's Committee Nguyễn Văn Hiệp said that about 2,300 households with about 6,700 people living in the commune would change their residency to Bình Sơn or Bàu Cạn communes.

Hiệp said the authority had prepared for the change and arranged staff to help residents change their information in legal documents like residency books, identification cards and birth and death certificates if needed.

Doãn Văn Dung, a resident of Suối Trầu Commune, told Tuổi trẻ (Youth) newspaper the eviction for the airport project was delayed for years.

He said residents who had to move out of their houses to make room for the project wanted to be properly relocated, compensated and assisted in finding and learning new jobs.

As a key national project, Long Thành International Airport has total investment of 336.63 trillion (US$14.4 million) 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. The first phase is expected to be completed by 2025.

In the second phase, one more runway and another passenger terminal will be built to serve 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. 

Next month, the Ministry of Transport will submit a feasibility study for the project's first phase to the Prime Minister and the National Assessment Council. If it is approved by the Prime Minister, the council and the National Assembly, work to flatten the land ahead of construction will begin in October, 2020. Construction is expected to start on the first runway in December, 2021 and on the terminal in March, 2022. — VNS