But a private investor has shown his willingness to build the airport under the mode of BOT (build, operate, transfer). 

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has proposed that the Ministry of Transport ask the Prime Minister to assign Son La provincial People’s Committee to act as the agency to implement the Na San Airport project as approved.

CAAV has asked the provincial authorities to work with the Ministry of National Defense and relevant ministries and branches to settle the national defense assets on the land, and work with the State Capital Management Commission (SCMC) to settle ACV’s assets on the land.

These works need to be done urgently so the Na San Airport project can kick off as scheduled.

In 2015, CAAV joined forces with ACV and relevant units to draw up a project on building Na San Airport. At that moment, agencies planned to build an airport meeting 4C standards, capable of receiving A321 or equivalent airplanes.

They also planned to build a 2.600m x 45m runway and a system of taxiways, parking lots, and equipment to ensure flight operations and 24/7 operation. The estimated investment capital was VND1.37 trillion.

In the civil aviation area, they planned to build a terminal with the capacity of 0.9 million passengers a year by 2020. The estimated investment capital was VND672 billion.

The total investment capital for all items at Na San Airport was estimated at VND1.984 trillion. However, because of the difficulties in capital arrangement, the next steps of the project have not been implemented.

In 2019, ACV continued to propose the development of Na San Airport in accordance with a plan with total estimated capital of VND2.268 trillion. However, project implementation stopped because of problems in capital mobilization and the project was not approved by SCMC.

In March 2022, the Son La People’s Committee sent a dispatch to the Prime Minister on the development of Na Sa Airport. The provincial authorities asked the Prime Minister to approve the development of the project under the mode of PPP (private public partnership) and assign the authorities to come forward and deploy the project. 

The project was capitalized at VND2 trillion.

According to Son La’s Chair Hoang Quoc Khanh, some private investors, including Him Lam Thu Do, have expressed interest in the project and a wish to develop the project under the BOT mode.

ACV’s refusal

In a recent document to the Ministry of Transport (MOT) to offer suggestions about the Na San project under the PPP mode, ACV wrote that in early 2021, SCMC requested ACV not to propose the implementation of the project in 2021-2025.

In Document 154 dated February 2022 on checking the medium-term investment plan in 2021-2025, the commission asked ACV to gather its resources to implement key projects, including Long Thanh International Airport, the T3 Terminal at Tan Son Nhat Airport, expansion of the T2 Terminal at Noi Bai International Airport, the T2 Terminal and parking lots at Phu Bai Airport, expansion of Dien Bien Airport, and a terminal and parking lots at Cat Bi Airport.

If it is really necessary to build Na San Airport right in 2021-2025 in order to promote the local socio-economic development, ACV said MOT needs to consider reasonable investment modes.

Under the national airport development plan which has been submitted to the Prime Minister, Na San is one of the airports of the national airport network

It is expected that Na San would be a 4C airport by 2030 with the capacity of 1 million passengers a year. By 2050, the capacity is expected to reach 2 million passengers.

According to CAAV, Na San is one of the major airports in the northwest, the main airport in the national military airport network that plays an important role in the defense strategy of the country.

The natural conditions of Na San airport are favorable for the arrangement of military works, air defense bases and air force of Vietnam.

The runway at the airport, 2,400 meters, has degraded seriously and it has stopped operation since 2004. The terminal there has also degraded.

Na San Airport was built in 1950s. It still operated in 1960s and then stopped operation because of few passengers. In 1994, the airport was put into use again. In 2004, it closed the doors because the items of the airports got degraded which could not meet requirements for safe operation. 

Vu Diep