Delayed construction of Phan Thiet airport will make it difficult to attract investors

On the afternoon of December 5, at the discussion session of the 29th session of the 11th term People's Council of Binh Thuan province on the socio-economic situation, national defense and security in 2024 and directions and tasks in 2025, Mr. Doan Anh Dung, Chairman of the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province, informed the latest progress of the Phan Thiet International Airport project (Phan Thiet airport) civil aviation category, under the BOT form.

Scene of the 29th session of the People's Council of Binh Thuan province on December 5. Photo: Vinh Phu.

Mr. Doan Anh Dung, Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People's Committee, said that recently the province has been actively working with ministries and branches to remove obstacles, aiming to soon deploy the civil project of Phan Thiet airport.

This is a project that combines military and civil use, the airport runway is invested by the Ministry of National Defense. The Government has assigned the province to call for investment in the terminal under a BOT contract.

Mr. Dung said that according to regulations, national defense and security assets are special assets that cannot be used for civil, service, or business purposes. If this regulation is followed, the law must be amended, which will take a lot of time.

“Therefore, to attract investors, the project needs to be recalculated and include dual-use assets. Recently, the province has proposed to the Prime Minister to consider including the runway in the dual-use category for shared use. Binh Thuan is a tourism and industrial province, delaying airport investment will lose opportunities and be a huge disadvantage in attracting domestic and foreign investors,” Mr. Doan Anh Dung, Chairman of Binh Thuan Provincial People's Committee emphasized.

Phan Thiet airport connection road is under construction, to be completed at the end of December 2024.

Phan Thiet Airport started construction in January 2015. To date, the military items being built by the Air Defense - Air Force have been put into military flight operation in early August 2024. The road leading to the airport will be completed and put into full operation by the end of December 2024.

The civil category is adjusted from a level 4C airport to a level 4E airport with a 3,050m runway and a passenger terminal with a designed capacity of 2 million passengers per year. Currently, Binh Thuan province is promoting the selection of a replacement investor to soon restart the civil airport category according to regulations.

Source: https://www.baogiaothong.vn/binh-thuan-cham-trien-khai-san-bay-phan-thiet-se-kho-thu-hut-nha-dau-tu-192241205165046319.htm