While relevant agencies are accelerating work on Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam to complete it on time or even ahead of schedule, projects to build roads leading to the airport are moving at a snail’s pace out of slow site clearance and a shortage of capital.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the first phase of the Long Thanh International Airport project commenced in early 2021, with three out of four components being developed as scheduled.

Only the progress of the fourth component, including 17 ground service items, such as a logistics area, an express cargo terminal, warehouses, a solar power system, an aviation city, and an aviation industrial park, is slower than planned.

The Ministry of Transport has approved eight items, while the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam is completing paperwork to choose investors for seven of them.

The first component, comprising headquarters for management agencies such as the airport authority, customs, immigration, and local police, is being constructed on schedule.

The second, overseen by the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation, reports that progress on the air traffic control tower is ahead of schedule by two months.

The third and most complex component, which includes the passenger terminal and runways, is meeting its planned progress.

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) aims to complete the runways and make them operational by April 30, 2025.

Slow pace in expressway projects 

The ACV asked Ho Chi Minh City and relevant ministries and agencies to speed up the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway.

The expansion is an important solution to meet forecast travel demand once Long Thanh International Airport is on stream.

The volume of vehicles traveling on the expressway increases 10.8 percent annually.

The Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh expressway, prior to any expansion, will exceed capacity by 2025. The route is often congested, especially during holidays, although Long Thanh International Airport has yet to be put into operation.

The Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises claimed that the expressway expansion is an urgent task and a necessity to meet the transport and socio-economic development demands, especially after Long Thanh International Airport opens in 2026.

In particular, the 22-kilometer Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh section will be enlarged to 8-10 lanes with a price tag of nearly VND15 trillion (US$590 million).

The Vietnam Expressway Corporation was proposed to be the primary investor. It signed a contract with state-run lender Vietcombank to source capital for the project in mid-2024.

According to experts, preparations for building an expressway normally take about a year. If procedures are simplified, construction on the project can begin in 2025 and be completed after two years.

Meanwhile, the An Phu Intersection project at the beginning of the expressway is under construction and may finish at the end of next year.

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Council has approved a project to broaden a road leading to the expressway from the intersection to eight lanes from the current two, which requires an estimated investment of VND938.9 billion ($36.9 million). This project will start in the third quarter of 2025 and finish in the last quarter of 2026.

The Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway project, connecting Dong Nai Province and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, is expected to be a crucial route for connecting southeastern localities and Long Thanh International Airport. However, some sections have lagged behind schedule.

Nearly VND1.19 trillion ($46.9 million) from the state budget has been allocated to the project in 2024, with VND796 billion ($31.4 million) already disbursed.

Contractors are employing more than 220 pieces of equipment and 415 workers to complete the project, which is now halfway complete. They are committed to making the expressway open to traffic before April 30, 2025.

However, the section in Dong Nai is facing multiple obstacles, specifically only 88 hectares of the 137 hectares needed have been handed over for a segment passing through Bien Hoa City and Long Thanh District in Dong Nai.

The project faces a shortfall of four million cubic meters of soil for leveling.

According to the ACV, after Long Thanh International Airport is completed, it will receive 80 percent of Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat International Airport's international passengers, adding pressure to complete the work on time.

Another important project is the 207-kilometer Beltway No. 4 with an estimated cost of VND136 trillion ($5.4 billion). 

Five localities, namely Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong Province, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Dong Nai Province, and Long An Province, are preparing dossiers for the project for submission to the law-making National Assembly early next year.

The beltway will further connect Binh Duong to the airport, besides the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway and the Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway.

The Dong Nai administration has proposed a road linking the airport with the Phan Thiet-Dau Giay Expressway in the north of the airport.

In particular, the first phase of the eight-kilometer 769E road project with an estimated investment of over VND1.4 trillion ($55 million) will stretch from the airport to Beltway No. 4 and the Phan Thiet-Dau Giay Expressway.

The first phase of the Long Thanh International Airport project is expected to cost VND110 trillion (US$4.3 billion).

The entire airport project is designed to span 5,000 hectares and carry a VND336.63 trillion ($13.3 billion) price tag.

Once complete, the airport will be the largest in Vietnam with an annual capacity of 100 million passengers and five million metric tons of cargo.

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