HO CHI MINH CITYI: Vietnam’s new Long Thanh International Airport faces significant challenges to meet its December opening deadline, prompting the government to order round-the-clock construction to get the project completed on time.
The flagship project, which is intended to relieve chronic congestion at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airport, is experiencing labour and material shortages, payment delays and rising costs, according to a government statement. The first phase of the 336.63 trillion dong (US$13 billion) project must be put into operation this year, it said.
"It’s highly challenging given the huge amount of work remaining and limited time left,” Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc said in the statement.
"Some contractors and project packages are progressing very slowly, with almost no progress,” he added.
One of the government’s key infrastructure projects, the airport is seen as central to the nation’s double-digit growth ambitions and improving regional connectivity.
In addition to questions about the airport’s readiness, transport connections to the commercial hub are still under construction, with rail links to Ho Chi Minh City not expected to be completed for a few years.
In recent months, the project has been beset by delays and a procurement scandal, with several executives detained over alleged violations of bidding regulations. It has also missed several key deadlines, while hundreds of soldiers were deployed in June to help address a shortage of construction workers.
The airport, which spans more than 5,000 hectares in Dong Nai province about 50km east of Ho Chi Minh City, is planned to be developed in three phases, with four runways and eventual capacity for 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo annually.
Airports Corporation of Vietnam, known as ACV, the project’s main investor, has been ordered to resolve payment issues by the end of this month. Contractors that fail to meet requirements for labor, equipment or financing will face penalties.
ACV did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai authorities must immediately address issues involving land clearance and technical infrastructure by the end of this month, the statement said. - Bloomberg
