Thanh Hoa needs to review the project of socializing investment and exploitation of Tho Xuan Airport.

The Ministry of Construction requested the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province to study the legal regulations on PPP investment to implement the procedures - Photo: Thanh Hoa Newspaper

In this document, the Ministry of Construction said that in Decision No. 1121/QD-TTg dated September 22, 2022, the Prime Minister assigned a number of localities to develop a project to socialize investment and exploitation of airports in their localities, including Tho Xuan Airport.

However, the process of developing the Project on socialization of airports has recorded difficulties and obstacles in the legal basis when mobilizing social capital to invest in and exploit infrastructure. On that basis, the Government leaders have directed the Ministry of Construction (formerly the Ministry of Transport) to synthesize and include in the "Project on orientation for mobilizing social capital to invest in, manage and exploit airport infrastructure" to study and propose solutions to remove legal basis, and report to the Politburo for comments on the policy as a basis for implementation.

Recently, the Ministry of Construction has completed the General Project and reported to the Government Standing Committee, in which it was determined that basically the difficulties and obstacles in basic construction investment in general have been given attention by competent authorities, amended and supplemented in a number of laws, creating a legal corridor for investment and development.

Regarding some problems related to the exploitation of infrastructure on defense land and dual-use works managed by the Ministry of National Defense, the Government Standing Committee assigned the Ministry of National Defense to preside over the review, propose solutions and report to the Prime Minister according to its authority; at the same time, directed the Ministry of Construction to remove the Project from the reporting program to the Politburo.

Research the law on PPP investment to implement procedures in accordance with regulations.

In that spirit, the mobilization of social capital for investment and exploitation of airports based on the needs of localities will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of current law on investment under the public-private partnership (PPP) method and related regulations. Therefore, the Ministry of Construction requests the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province to study the provisions of law on PPP investment to implement the procedures.

Specifically, including: The Prime Minister's report assigns the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province to be the competent authority to invest in the project according to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 5 of the Law on Investment under the PPP method; The 2024 Land Law (Article 84) has allowed updating and adjusting the national defense land use planning on the basis of the investment policy approved by the competent authority; The 2023 Law on Management and Protection of National Defense Works and Military Zones (Articles 12 and 13) has regulated the change of purpose of use of national defense works, recovery and compensation of national defense assets; The Law amending the Law on Investment under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) method has increased the proportion of state capital participating in PPP projects to 70%; at the same time, it does not stipulate the determination of the value of public assets as the State capital to support PPP projects; The Law amending the State Budget Law has added regulations on the use of local budget capital to invest in works under the expenditure tasks of the Central budget.

The Ministry of Construction requested Thanh Hoa to synthesize the contents studied in the Project on socialization of investment and exploitation of Tho Xuan Airport to include in the Pre-Feasibility Study Report and submit for approval of the investment policy according to regulations.

The Ministry of Construction also stated that the Project developed by Thanh Hoa province has basically researched all the contents to evaluate and propose solutions to mobilize social capital to invest and exploit Tho Xuan airport such as: basis for developing the Project; assessing the current status of land management and use, investment and exploitation of infrastructure; development potential, planning, expansion investment needs; international experience and proposed application models; issues that need to be resolved when investing in Tho Xuan airport in the form of PPP; impact assessment; implementation organization.

However, the Ministry of Construction requested Thanh Hoa province to update the provisions in the draft and the progress of promulgation for review and adjustment. Along with that, the use of public assets to participate in investment projects under the PPP method: Clause 4, Article 70 of the Law on Investment under the PPP method only stipulates that "State capital to support the construction of works and infrastructure systems is arranged from public investment capital sources according to the provisions of the law on public investment". Therefore, Thanh Hoa province is requested to review.

Regarding the exploitation of works in the shared airport area managed by the Ministry of National Defense, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province is requested to coordinate with the Ministry of National Defense to study and report to competent authorities to remove shared infrastructure works from the list of special assets and determine their nature as dual-use works according to the provisions of law on management and protection of defense works and military zones so that investors and airport enterprises can exploit and use them together.

Regarding the plan to handle the existing assets of Tho Xuan Airport Enterprise (Vietnam Airports Corporation - ACV), the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province is requested to coordinate with ACV on the proposed content of allowing the transfer and sale of fixed assets according to the provisions of law on management and use of State capital invested in production and business at enterprises.

The Ministry of Construction also requested Thanh Hoa province to study and supplement proposals on mechanisms in which new investors need to take advantage of ACV's existing apparatus to ensure the continuous operation of Tho Xuan Airport.

After more than 10 years of operation, Tho Xuan Airport has become one of the growth drivers of Thanh Hoa province. However, in recent years, the number of passengers passing through the port has exceeded the design capacity (of which the highest number of passengers in 2022 reached 1.5 million passengers/year, exceeding the capacity by 25%), while the T2 terminal has not been invested in. The taxiways and runways have been in operation for over 40 years (far exceeding the average design life of the project of about 20 years), the quality of the runway surface and load-bearing capacity have degraded; many damages have appeared.

Tho Xuan Airport is identified in the planning as an international airport, with the function of a reserve for Noi Bai International Airport, and is used as a joint civil and military airport. Tho Xuan Airport is planned for the 2021-2030 period to reach level 4E and a level I military airport, with 2 runways to meet the capacity of 5 million passengers/year....

According to the report, with a planned capacity of about 5 million passengers/year in the 2021-2030 period, the investment aims to ensure the exploitation capacity according to the construction plan of runway 2 and terminal T2; the scale and investment capital requirement is about 8,200 billion VND, to carry out the following items: Renovating, upgrading and expanding terminal T1 to a capacity of 1.5 million passengers/year, synchronously connecting with the newly built terminal T2. The aircraft parking lot is expanded to 16 aircraft positions, meeting the capacity of 5 million passengers/year... Investing in building a new flight management and operation system (ILS, CAT system) for runway 2; investing in building a new terminal T2 (international terminal) with a capacity of 3.5 million passengers/year, increasing the total capacity to 5 million passengers/year.

Phan Trang

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/thanh-hoa-can-ra-soat-de-an-xa-hoi-hoa-dau-tu-khai-thac-cang-hang-khong-tho-xuan-102250325134737869.htm