Building Long Thanh Airport City creates a driving force for development

​A corner of the infrastructure of the resettlement area of ​​Long Thanh Airport

In early 2021, the construction investment project of Long Thanh International Airport (airport) phase 1 officially started construction. As expected, from September to 2025, Long Thanh Airport phase 1 will be inaugurated and put into operation.

Advantages of Dong Nai Province

In phase 1 of the project, Long Thanh Airport is planned to be built with a capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year. When the construction is fully completed, Long Thanh Airport will have a capacity of 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo per year. At that time, Long Thanh Airport will also become the largest airport in the country.

Mr. Duong Minh Dung, Secretary of Long Thanh District Party Committee said that to maximize the potential and advantages of Long Thanh Airport, Dong Nai Province as well as Long Thanh District are currently implementing the construction of the airport city. The construction of Long Thanh Airport city will create a driving force to promote economic and social development of Long Thanh District, Dong Nai Province in particular and of the Southern Key Economic Region in general.

According to Mr. Vo Tan Duc, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Dong Nai Province has a favorable position for socio-economic development since it is located closely to the center of Ho Chi Minh City, the largest urban area in the country. Dong Nai is also only 40km away from Cai Mep - Thi Vai Port cluster of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province. In the near future, Dong Nai will have Long Thanh Airport, the largest airport in the country. "Dong Nai has all five modes of transport: road, air, railway, inland waterway and development of international maritime trade" - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Vo Tan Duc added.

According to Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Vo Tan Duc, Long Thanh Airport project is a national key project, playing an extremely important role, not only connecting Vietnam and the world, but also connecting the provinces and cities of the Southern Key Economic Region in general, and Dong Nai in particular, with important economic centers of the country. Therefore, Dong Nai has also determined the strategic location of Long Thanh Airport as well as the importance of developing Long Thanh Airport city as necessary, in order to turn the province into a dynamic economic development center in the future.

Mr. Nguyen Hong Linh, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee also emphasized that Long Thanh Airport is Dong Nai's comparative advantage. Because, a locality having both airport and seaport would have huge advantages. “Dong Nai holds a great potential of the country, an important comparative advantage. Therefore, Long Thanh urban area must develop to match its potential"- Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Hong Linh affirmed.

During the field visit and working with functional agencies and the Provincial People's Committee in April 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh also emphasized that Dong Nai Province should to pay attention to develop the airport city to create a driving force for development not only for the locality but also for the entire Southern Key Economic Region.

Plan of passenger terminal at Long Thanh Airport

Airport city is the driving force of the airport metropolitan area

Commenting on the development potential of Long Thanh Airport city, Professor Ha Hun Koo, former Dean of Logistics Department, School of Logistics Asia Pacific, Inha University, member of the Advisory Committee on Investment in Transport Infrastructure According to the Korean Ministry of Land and Transport, Long Thanh Airport has a lot of potential to develop the airport city model. Long Thanh Airport located in Dong Nai Province which is one of the most developed industrial production areas of Vietnam with many Industrial Zones.

Geographically speaking, it only takes about 40 minutes from Long Thanh Airport to Ho Chi Minh City, a large city in Vietnam. This is an extremely convenient point of Long Thanh Airport. Therefore, if there is a good construction plan for the neighboring areas of Long Thanh Airport, it will bring great economic efficiency. “Another advantage of Long Thanh Airport is its proximity to the country's large deep-water seaport system, namely Cai Mep - Thi Vai. Besides, Dong Nai's Seaport system is also quite good, so it will support the economic development," added Professor Ha Hun Koo.

According to Professor Ha Hun Koo, Long Thanh Airport can not only develop to be an airport city, it can become a "nucleus" to develop an airport urban like the one that Korea is currently developing with Incheon Airport. “The airport urban area that Korea is building has the airport city of Incheon as its core. Other urban areas in the airport urban area have Cheongna city as the financial center and entertainment city; Song Do is an advanced knowledge city and Young Jong is the best business city in the world,” said Professor Ha Hun Koo.

From that fact, Professor Ha Hun Koo said that, if developing the model of airport city and airport urban area for Long Thanh Airport, Long Thanh District is the "core" airport city of the whole Dong Nai province.

With this approach, Professor Ha Hun Koo said that in order to successfully build the above models, it is necessary to have a master plan for Long Thanh District in particular and Dong Nai Province in general. The goal is that when Long Thanh Airport is completed and put into operation, at the same time, Dong Nai Province must also have accompanying facilities such as a hotel system; convention center; entertainment exhibition areas; information and communication technology zones; wholesale and retail zones; industrial zones; Multimedia Merchandise Center, etc.

Proposing the orientation of the master plan, Professor Ha Hun Koo said that the plan should have a long-term vision, at least 20 - 30 years. In that long-term master plan, it is necessary to set out more specific short-term plans. “First, Long Thanh Airport must be planned to become an effective gateway, then a logistics center must be planned, then an industrial center, and finally a commercial center around the airport. A 5-year, 10-year, 20-year and 30-year planning roadmap must be set out. Finally, it becomes an airport urban area," said Professor Ha Hun Koo.

In the planning vision, Professor Ha Hun Koo also said that the planning must be based on the key export items that Dong Nai targets. The province sets targets to develop products into key export products, based on that goal to have a more specific plan. The planning vision must also set out specific goals in developing world-class airports and seaports to attract distribution centers and multinational companies to and set up headquarters in the city airport or airport urban area. Thanks to this, resources of development will be attracted.

 Vi Quan