On the afternoon of November 12, the National Assembly listened to the submission and report on the review of the adjustment of the investment policy for the Long Thanh International Airport project.

Presenting a report on this content, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang said that the Government proposed that the National Assembly adjust 3 contents.

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Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang. Photo: QH

One is to move the "take-off and landing runway number 3" from phase 3 to phase 1 (construct 2 runways in parallel).

Second, the completion time of Long Thanh airport is adjusted to the end of 2026 (instead of the previous adjustment of the third quarter of 2026), 1 year later than Resolution 94/2015 of the National Assembly.

Third, the proposal allows the Government to organize the approval of the feasibility study report adjusting phase 1 of the project according to its authority without having to report to the National Assembly for approval.

Optimizing long-term operating efficiency

Reviewing this content, Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh said that the Economic Committee agreed with the Government's proposal to immediately build "runway number 3" next to and 400m north of "runway number 1" being invested in, to put into operation synchronously with phase 1 (instead of investing in phase 3).

According to the auditing agency, this ensures compliance with the actual situation, meets the continuous operation needs of the airport when a runway has problems, and improves project investment efficiency...

In addition, there are opinions of concern about the investment cost of runway No. 3, about 3,304 billion VND, used from post-bidding savings and contingency, however, the contingency cost is used for the volume, additional work and price slippage of the project in progress.

Therefore, how the use of this cost will affect the project also needs to be supplemented and clarified by the Government.

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Chairman of the Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh. Photo: QH

The Economic Committee also agreed that allowing the adjustment of the implementation period of phase 1 until December 31, 2026 is necessary to complete the entire phase 1 of the project, including runway 3, as the expected completion time of this runway is 24 months.

The appraisal agency determined that allowing an extension of the project implementation period would create conditions for synchronizing auxiliary infrastructure, connecting routes, terminals and other supporting works in a more reasonable manner, especially synchronizing with the completion deadline for the investment in the construction of runway No. 3, helping to optimize long-term operational efficiency.

However, Mr. Thanh also said that there were opinions suggesting that the Government clarify the subjective causes leading to the project's slow progress, so that timely solutions could be found to speed up progress, ensure quality, and funding sources, and avoid problems that would require continuing to carry out adjustment procedures, affecting the project's progress.

This type of opinion also suggests clarifying responsibilities and lessons learned for the organization of project implementation in particular and important national projects in general, ensuring effective use of the state budget.

At the same time, the Government needs to consider, review and adjust the appropriate time, and strive to make the greatest effort to ensure the completion of the project, put it into operation, and exploit it effectively, economically, and against waste.

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Thousands of workers and engineers are working tirelessly through the night at the Long Thanh airport construction site (Dong Nai). Photo: Nguyen Hue

Regarding allowing the Government to organize the approval of the adjusted feasibility study report for phase 1 according to its authority without having to report to the National Assembly for approval, the appraisal agency believes that this is appropriate to speed up the project implementation progress.

The Economic Committee agreed with the Government's proposal to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and approval of the contents of adjusting the project investment policy in the Joint Resolution of the 8th session of the 15th National Assembly.

The Government submitted to the National Assembly an adjustment to the investment policy of the Long Thanh airport project.

The Government submitted to the National Assembly an adjustment to the investment policy of the Long Thanh airport project.

The Government proposed to move the “take-off and landing runway number 3” from phase 3 to phase 1; postpone the completion time of Long Thanh airport until the end of 2026; and allow the organization approving the feasibility study report to adjust phase 1 of the project according to its authority.