VietNamNet Bridge – While people vote against the Long Thanh airport project, the Ministry of Transport has been insisting on the development of the project, saying that this would be the optimal solution for the future.

There exists a relation between the 220KV north-south electricity transmission line and the Long Thanh airport, though they are the two projects in the two different fields.

Every Vietnamese, if asked about the electricity transmission line, would say the work has been playing a very important role in the socio-economic development of the country.

However, 20 years ago, when the project was put into discussion, it once faced the strong opposition from the public. The idea of a transmission line which could bring the electricity from the north to the south to ease the electricity shortage there was considered unfeasible.

However, the government then still decided to build up the transmission system. After two years of execution, the system was put into operation in 1994. Since then, it has been operating as the backbone of the national grid, fostering the economic development in the central and southern regions.

Long Thanh airport is optimal solution

The Long Thanh airport project, which has been open for the public opinion, reminds people of what happened with the 220KV transmission line.

The Ministry of Transport has drawn up a plan on developing the Long Thanh airport in the south, under which it would turn into one of the 10 international airports in Vietnam by 2020. It is expected to replace Tan Son Nhat to become the biggest airport in Vietnam with the capacity of 80-100 million passengers a year by 2030.

Meanwhile, some experts have argued that a new airport is not really necessary for Vietnam for now and the near future. They said that in case Tan Son Nhat airport gets overloaded, Vietnam can think of enlarging Tan Son Nhat or using the Bien Hoa airport to serve the increased demand.

The upgrading of the existing airports instead of building of a new airport is believed to be a better solution, because it will be not too costly.

However, according to the Ministry of Transport, it is impossible to expand Tan Son Nhat Airport.

Tan Son Nhat was built 50 years ago on an area of 850 hectares. Though initially designed to serve 9 million passengers a year, Tan Son Nhat served 20 million passengers in 2013, or twice as much the designed capacity.

Also according to the ministry, with the increasingly high demand of 12-14 percent per annum, the land fund here is not enough to expand the airport.

The limited capacity of Tan Son Nhat airport has discouraged a lot of foreign investors. An official of the ministry said some international airlines have decided to cancel their plans to open the air routes to HCM City, or cut down the numbers of flights there after they saw the overloading.

Tardiness will make waste

Dr. Tran Quang Chau, Chair of the Vietnam Aviation Science and Technology Association, noted that it would be better not to keep an airport in the inner city like Tan Son Nhat. In principle, airports need to be 20-60 kilometers far from cities.

Other regional countries, anticipating the rapid development of the Asia-Pacific market, have been moving ahead with their plans to improve the airports’ capacity.

Malaysia plans to increase the capacity of Kuala Lumpur airport to 100 million passengers by 2020. Thailand has budged $5.4 billion for the expansion of Suvarnabhumi airport to have the capacity of 103 million passengers by 2024.

Thanh Le