Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved in principle a plan to build
Phan Thiet Airport in the central province of Binh Thuan under the BOT
(build-operate-transfer) model.
Under the plan, the Binh Thuan
provincial People’s Committee has been assigned to proceed with
construction of the airport, according to the Government Office.
The
province has also been asked to coordinate with the ministries of
Planning and Investment, Transport and National Defence, Rang Dong Group
and other relevant agencies to draw up and develop a feasibility study
for the project as well as select capable investors and contractors for
the project.
Rang Dong Group has asked Binh Thuan province and the Ministry of Transport for approval to invest in the airport.
Phan
Thiet Airport, which will be used for both civil and military purposes,
is located in Thien Nghiep commune, Phan Thiet city.
The
airport will be implemented in two phases. By 2020, the airport will be
developed on 360 hectares comprising a 2,400-metre runway and a
5,000-square-metre terminal able to handle 500,000 passengers and 10,000
tonnes of goods a year.
The airport is projected to be expanded
to 543 hectares to be able to handle around 1 million passengers and
40,000 – 50,000 tonnes of goods a year in the 2020-30 period.
The airport requires an initial investment of 5.6 trillion VND (264.8 million USD) and is scheduled to be operational by 2017.
It
is expected to help the province improve its tourism by shortening
travel time for passengers from Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang and Nha
Trang.
Currently the country has 21 operational airports, including eight international airports.-VNA