National Assembly "hot" with Long Thanh International Airport project

On the morning of October 29, National Assembly deputies discussed in the Hall the Investment Report on the Long Thanh International Airport construction investment project and discussed the contents with different opinions of the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Civil Aviation of Vietnam.

Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang presents the Proposal on investment policy for the construction of Long Thanh International Airport project. Photo: VNA

It is necessary to build Long Thanh to develop a regional-scale international transit airport.

The Investment Report on the Long Thanh International Airport Construction Investment Project presented by Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang stated that the investment in the construction of Long Thanh International Airport is necessary, because it will form and develop a large-scale international transit airport in the region to serve the Vietnam Air Transport Development Strategy.

The Minister emphasized that along with the development trend of international aviation, with the advantage of geographical location and potential for air transport development, Vietnam also needs to soon form an international airport to act as a transit hub in the region, which is a practical and strategic need for development. Moreover, the construction of Long Thanh International Airport meets the demand for air transport when Tan Son Nhat International Airport reaches its design capacity and becomes overloaded.

The report stated: The selection of the planning and construction location of Long Thanh International Airport has been carefully studied by specialized agencies of the civil aviation industry since 1993. In addition, socio-economic planning, construction planning, land use planning and other specialized planning have been approved in sync with the formation of Long Thanh International Airport. Many planning projects have been invested in, especially traffic routes to facilitate convenient connection between Long Thanh International Airport and Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring areas.

Ceremony to announce the planning of Long Thanh International Airport. Photo: VNA

The Minister said that the investment goal of building Long Thanh International Airport is to gradually reach level 4F (according to ICAO classification); to play the role of the largest and most important international gateway airport of the country, and is expected to become one of the air transport hubs in the Southeast Asian region in the future.

The entire project is expected to be divided into 3 phases. Phase 1: investment in a passenger terminal with a capacity of 25 million passengers/year, a cargo terminal with a capacity of 1.2 million tons of cargo/year, 2 parallel runways with a closed configuration, to share the overload of Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Phase 1a: construction of the main terminal with 1 central branch, 1 runway to serve 17 million passengers/year, opening in 2023; Phase 1b: construction of the remaining two wings of the central main terminal and the second runway, opening in 2025.

Phase 2: passenger terminal with capacity of 50 million passengers/year, cargo terminal with capacity of 1.5 million tons of cargo/year, one more runway, opening in 2030.

Final phase: passenger terminal with capacity of 100 million passengers/year, cargo terminal with capacity of 5.0 million tons of cargo/year, 4 runways.

The total estimated investment for phase 1 of the Project is about 7.837 billion USD (equivalent to 164,589 billion VND), of which phase 1a has a total investment of about 5.662 billion USD (equivalent to 118,910 billion VND).

Capital structure: estimated state capital (budget capital, government bonds, ODA...) for phase 1 is 84,624 billion VND. Of which, phase 1a is nearly 57,858 billion VND (about 48.65% of the total estimated investment). Capital mobilized from the non-state sector (enterprise capital, shares, joint ventures, public-private partnerships) is 79,965 billion VND. Of which, phase 1a is more than 61,053 billion VND (51.35% of the total estimated investment).

Reviewing the Investment Report of Long Thanh International Airport project, the National Assembly's Economic Committee assessed that Long Thanh International Airport project meets the criteria of being an important national project; and agreed with the policy of the Party and State of Vietnam to have a modern international airport to meet the demand for air transport, contribute to socio-economic development and be associated with national defense and security tasks.

However, there are also opinions suggesting clarifying the urgency or necessity of investing in Long Thanh International Airport. If it is not urgent, then consider the appropriate time for investment.

The Economic Committee believes that this is only the investment capital for phase 1 of the project. If all 3 phases are included, the total investment will be very large (about 18.7 billion USD). On the other hand, the investment estimate for phase 1 is an estimate, and the level of accuracy is not high. In addition, projects in the infrastructure system connecting to Long Thanh International Airport need to be calculated and balanced with the total investment capital of this airport.

Regarding capital mobilization plan: the investment in the construction of Long Thanh International Airport using state capital and loans in the context of rapidly increasing public debt and state budget difficulties does not ensure feasibility.

On the other hand, if it is possible to borrow from international financial institutions, there must also be a guarantee from the Government. There are opinions suggesting that capital mobilization should be implemented in accordance with Resolution No. 13-NQ/TW dated January 16, 2012 of the Central Executive Committee, which mobilizes ODA capital and encourages public-private partnership.

Comments on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Civil Aviation of Vietnam.

During the remaining time of this morning's working session, National Assembly deputies discussed the contents with different opinions of the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Civil Aviation of Vietnam.

Through discussion, many opinions suggested that it is necessary to supplement regulations on measures to overcome the situation of flight delays and cancellations in civil aviation. According to National Assembly delegates, flight delays and cancellations in civil aviation are violations of the transportation contract, directly affecting the rights of passengers.

However, the current Law lacks regulations binding the responsibility of transport enterprises in ensuring the implementation of transport conditions, maintaining minimum service quality, and lacks regulations on minimum standards that enterprises must ensure for passengers.

The Draft Law has added provisions on the obligations of air transport businesses, the obligation to maintain minimum conditions and quality of transport services (Clause 4a, Article 110); added the responsibility of the carrier in case of prolonged flight delays without prior notice (Clause 5, Article 145); assigned the Minister of Transport to regulate the duration of prolonged flight delays and minimum quality of service for passengers at airports (Clause 5 and Clause 6, Article 145).

At the same time, the State management agency specializing in civil aviation needs to strengthen the inspection and supervision of the performance of obligations of enterprises in case of disruption, flight delays, flight cancellations...

National Assembly delegate of Binh Dinh province Nguyen Thanh Thuy speaks. Photo: VNA

However, delegate Nguyen Thanh Thuy (Binh Dinh) said that it is necessary to clearly define the responsibility for compensation and the agency to resolve customer complaints and compensation claims when flights are delayed or canceled. At the same time, the State management agency specializing in civil aviation needs to strengthen the inspection and supervision of the performance of obligations of enterprises in cases of interruption, delay, or cancellation of flights...

Concerned about the price of services at the airport, delegate Nguyen Duc Kien (Soc Trang) suggested that airport services must be bid to have prices that are consistent with market value. "The fact that the Minister of Transport issued a document directing the reduction of service prices only shows concern, but in terms of State management, there are problems and it is difficult to closely monitor consumer rights," the delegate emphasized.

According to some delegates, more attention should be paid to coordination in airport management. "We cannot let the exploitation of Tan Son Nhat airport have too many expensive lessons due to weaknesses in management and unclear decentralization, forcing the National Assembly to consider the investment policy to build a new Long Thanh airport to overcome this."

Delegate Tran Du Lich (Ho Chi Minh City) proposed that the amendment to this Law should consider two contents on developing low-cost aviation and distributing short-haul flights.

According to Vietnam+