While the procedures of Long Thanh International Airport project are being completed to carry out the construction, another issue catching the attention of the aviation industry experts is the plan to develop Long Thanh a future airport city.
Recently, the Dutch aviation experts have worked with the Government and the Provincial People's Committee, sharing experiences in developing an airport city - a model that the Netherlands has gained significant success in.
Long Thanh is being planned to accommodate the development of the vicinity of Long Thanh Airport. In the picture: A block of Long Thanh town, Long Thanh district.
* A century vision
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nethelands Marten Van den Berg shared his concerns about the project of Long Thanh International Airport, which is similar to Schiphol Amsterdam (Netherlands) in terms of geographic factors as well as economic influence. Mr. Kjell Klooster, Director of the Netherlands Airport Consults (NACO), representative of the Netherlands-Vietnam Aviation Cooperation Group, addressed the 2 major issues of the airport city concept: the development of the airport and its vicinity. "The air city of Schiphol Amsterdam in the Netherlands was not developed for a short time, it has taken more than 100 years to develop (started in 1916) and has continued to expand. The planning for a land fund for future development is one thing that must be thoroughly considered," said Kjell Klooster.
According to Mr. Kjell Klooster, the role in shaping and building an airport city of the province is extremely important. The airport is the center of the city, not only the hub for cargo shipment but the driving force for economic development. The Airport is only part of the overall picture of the economy. Mr. Kjell Klooster said that in the Netherlands there are a lot of shopping stores at the airports and a lot of major commercial centers, supermarkets and hotels along their access ways; The land right to the airport is for the development of aviation-related services, further vicinity is the constructions of hotels, resorts and recreation centers. There are also train stations and modern forms of transport connections built to support the development.
The Netherland aviation experts also point out that when building the city it is important to consider climate changes. Otherwise, it will be difficult later.
The parnership of public and private sectors
Mr. Kjell Klooster said: “After thorough research, I can see the huge potential of Vietnam's aviation industry. Frequency of flights in developed countries is 2 times / passenger / year. The current figure of Vietnam is 0.7 times per passenger per year, so it is very potential and a dream for foreign investors. Vietnam has an extremely strategic location in Southeast Asia." Mr. Kjell Klooster also advised that the province should focus on the commercialization factor to make good profit outside from the vicinity of the airport. The city of the airport will be larger through commercialization and in order to achieve that, there should be the public-private partnership (PPP).
In this regard, Jan Van Schoonhoven, Chairman of the Netherland public-private partnership program, said that good construction of an airport city would all be profitable with the good number of passengers, particularly for the airport authority; Local governments can provide better jobs for people and better tax collection, especially for investment; and businesses have the opportunities to make their investment. What matters here is that the role of state management is to connect different economic sectors and to ensure the experience in both aviation development and economic development. "For example, at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport we developed the airport by commercializing services in the form of public-private partnerships instead of simply concentrating on passenger transportation, thus we have gained significant success. This experience is also shared to many countries around the world," said Mr. Jan Van Schoonhoven.
Vân Nam
