The Hoa Lu consortium led by Vietnamese construction firm Coteccons is competing with two foreign consortiums to bid for a tender package worth over VND35.2 trillion (US$1.5 billion) to construct the passenger terminal at Long Thanh International Airport in southern Dong Nai Province.

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has closed the bid for package 5.10 to construct and install equipment at the passenger terminal, the largest package of the big-ticket airport project, with three consortiums of contractors submitting bidding dossiers.

They include a consortium of mainly Vietnamese contractors, one led by a Chinese contractor, and one by a Turkish firm.

The Hoa Lu consortium, headed by Coteccons, consists of six other Vietnamese firms—Hoa Binh, Central, An Phong, Delta, Unicons, and Thanh An, and Thailand’s Power Line Engineering.

Bolat Duisenov, chairman of Coteccons, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the passenger terminal of the Long Thanh International Airport project is a complicated but valuable package amid the economic downturn and difficulties of the construction sector.

The Coteccons chairman was committed to completing the package in 36 months with financial support from large Vietnamese banks.

Besides the seven Vietnamese enterprises, the consortium includes Power Line Engineering from Thailand, which specializes in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems and has experience in constructing Suvarnabhumi Airport, which is currently Thailand’s largest airport.

The Hoa Lu consortium found that Power Line Engineering is a capable contractor which has executed many projects in Thailand and other countries, Duisenov said.

A single contractor cannot conduct such a mammoth project, said Swake Srisuchart, chairman of the executive committee of Power Line Engineering, adding that enterprises have to divide the project into many subprojects and take charge of aspects in which they excel. 

The consortium has prepared finance and other resources for the project for a year, according to Tran Quang Tuan, chairman and general director of Central Construction JSC.

If it wins the passenger terminal package bidding, the package will create jobs for some 600 engineers and over 8,500 workers of the consortium, Tuan added.

“The package will create a turning-point for domestic contractors, help take advantage of local resources, and change the insight about Vietnamese contractors.”

Hoa Binh Construction Group chairman Le Viet Hai shared the view that participation in large projects such as the passenger terminal for Long Thanh International Airport will help Vietnam’s construction sector become more competitive, master construction technology, and turn construction into a key sector in the future.

In addition to the Hoa Lu consortium, the package attracted the Vietur consortium led by Turkey’s Ic Istas and comprising nine other firms, including Vietnamese ones—Ricons, Newtecons, and Sol E&C.

Meanwhile, the consortium of CHEC-BCEG-Vietnam Contractors led by China Harbour Engineering consists of 10 Vietnamese contractors, such as Thuan Viet, Xuan Mai, CDC, and Samcons Vietnam.

The ACV last year invited tenders for bidding package 5.10 for the first time.

Only one consortium submitted its bidding documents. 

As a result, the ACV canceled bidding package 5.10 and issued a second tender invitation for the package in June this year, attracting three contractor consortiums.

The ACV will complete the selection of contractors for the package this month to begin the construction of the passenger terminal in August, said ACV deputy general director Nguyen Tien Viet.

The Long Thanh International Airport project, located some 40 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, will have an annual capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo. 

Work on the project will be carried out in three phases.

In the first phase, the airport is designed to accommodate 25 million passengers and handle 1.2 million metric tons of cargo per year.

The project, which needs an estimated investment of some VND336.63 trillion ($14.1 billion), will be the largest airport in the nation once it is complete.

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