Units managing construction of Vietnam’s largest airport to be rebuked for failing to find builder

The State-owned Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), which operates all 22 commercial airports in Vietnam, and which manages the construction Long Thanh airport, announced last December that bidding on a package to build the passenger terminal for the airport had been canceled. ACV said that it had called for bidding on September 24 last year, but that no local candidates met the requirements necessary to carry out the project.

ACV Deputy Director Do Tat Binh said that local contractors lack experience in special projects like airports. He added that several foreign contractors were interested in the project when bidding began, but that they considered the 2025 deadline “impractical.”

Work on Long Thanh airport in the southern province of Dong Nai began in early 2021 and its first phase is scheduled for completion in 2025. The site for the passenger terminal had already been cleared and made ready for construction, which was to begin at the end of this month according to the plan.

With no contractor found for the terminal, the entire Long Thanh airport project is at risk of falling behind schedule.

Inspecting the project on Sunday, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said ACV, the Ministry of Transport and the Commission for Management of State Capital at Enterprises will be reprimanded for this matter.

By the time of the prime minister’s inspection, no contractor has been found for the terminal.

Costing an estimated $16 billion, the Long Thanh airport is designed to serve 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo per year.

According to the project’s official schedule, the first phase would be put into use in 2025, allowing it to serve 25 million passengers a year.

Once operational, the airport would replace HCMC’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport as the largest and busiest airport in Vietnam.