The proposal was announced at a Tuesday meeting by vice-chairman of the municipal people's committee, Duong Duc Tuan.

The second airport is included in the planning for 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050. In addition to the first option for location in Thanh Oai and Thuong Tin districts with an area of 1,300 hectares, the committee has added the second option for Ung Hoa District with an area of 1,700 hectares.

According to the committee, an airport in this southern district will connect better with Phu Xuyen satellite town which is a leading industrial zone and a centre for transportation and trading, creating good conditions to develop the southern part of the city.

The Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture previously proposed that municipal authorities consider the planning of Hanoi’s second international airport in the southern district of Ung Hoa and add it to the planning of Vietnam’s airports in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050.

According to this agency, this plan has many advantages. Firstly, the distance and the travel time between Ung Hoa and the centre of Hanoi are reasonable.

Secondly, traffic links between the location and Hanoi city centre are very convenient via the Phap Van-Cau Gie Highway, and the existing National Highway 1A. In the long term, it will be connected to the Northwest Expressway - National Highway 5B (linking the Ho Chi Minh Highway and Highway 5B) and the main roads of Hanoi (Do Xa, Quan Son, the North-South axis, and Ngoc Hoi - Phu Xuyen Road).

Thirdly, the planned site for the second international airport can have access roads, waterways via Van Diem Port on the Red River) and railways (the Hanoi-HCM City Line and the North-South Express Railway in the future).

Fourthly, there are advantages in terms of site clearance and available land for the construction of an airport over 1,300 hectares (similar to the size of Noi Bai International Airport with a capacity of 50 million passengers a year), as it mainly would be on agricultural land.

This area also has land and conditions for developing supporting urban areas around the new airport (Phu Xuyen), industrial zones, multimodal transportation, warehousing and logistics systems (Phu Xuyen District alone has about 1,039 hectares of industrial land).

This plan could also create a new driving force for Hanoi, especially for the satellite urban area of Phu Xuyen (about 5km away), and the districts of Thanh Oai, Ung Hoa, Phu Xuyen, My Duc and some neighbouring southern provinces.

However, the Department of Planning and Architecture also mentioned the 500KV Thuong Tin to Nho Quan power transmission line as being a disadvantage.

Ung Hoa District lies some 35-40 kilometres from the city centre.

Source: Dtinews