VietNamNet Bridge – The golf course area alone at Tan Son Nhat International Airport can provide space for 30 additional aircraft parking spots, according to Le Trong Sanh, former chief of flight management at Tan Son Nhat.

The golf course inside Tan Son Nhat Airport is under construction - Photo: From Tan Binh District’s voters

Speaking to the Daily last week, Sanh said that if being expanded, Tan Son Nhat Airport can handle 35-40 million passengers per year, not 26 million passengers maximum as said by the Ministry of Transport before.

However, to be able to handle 35-40 million passengers per year, a new international terminal should be built near the golf course and the domestic terminal should be expanded. The airport expansion will cost US$1 billion, according to Sanh.

Besides, 157 hectares of the golf course can be used to build new parking space. “While the airport lacks parking space, a golf course is built inside the airport, which is illogical,” he said.

The Ministry of Transport had a working session with Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) last Thursday on the plan to expand Tan Son Nhat Airport.

Nguyen Nguyen Hung, ACV chairman, said that Long Thanh Airport would not be put into operation until ten years later even if the plan was passed now.

According to ACV, to handle 26 million passengers per year, Tan Son Nhat Airport needs to have 60-65 parking spots while it currently has only 40. If all remaining land and even nearby land of the defense force are used, only 21 more parking spots can be built.

Meanwhile, both domestic and international terminals can handle additional six million passengers. Tan Son Nhat Airport served 20 million passengers last year, sooner than 2015 as scheduled at first.

The plan to build a golf course at Tan Son Nhat Airport has encountered objection from aviation experts and voters in HCMC’s Tan Binh District.

Deputy Do Van Duong at the sixth session of the National Assembly raised a question about why there should be a golf course inside the airport.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung answered in a document dated January 13 that construction of the golf courses at Tan Son Nhat and Gia Lam airports was proposed by the ministries of defense, construction and transport, the governments of Hanoi and HCMC to make full use of land like what many countries had done, which was to build golf courses and some suitable sport facilities.

Therefore, the Government has agreed and assigned the Ministry of Defense to make the planning for the golf courses at the two airports, develop supporting works, and ensure security and operations of the airports.

According to the Ministry of Defense’s information sent to management agencies, the golf course and supporting works at Tan Son Nhat Airport will use 157.29 hectares.

The project’s estimated cost is around VND6 trillion and all components will be completed in 2017.    

Source: SGT