It's one step closer to the completion of Long Thanh International Airport in the far future.
As reported by Zing, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) recently publicized the list of contractors that will undertake the feasibility study for the massive Long Thanh International Airport project based in Dong Nai. The study will be a collaboration between two Japanese companies, one French company and one Vietnamese company.
According to Vietnam Finance, the two Japanese firms are Japan Airport Consultants, Inc. and Nippon Koei. French consulting firm ADP Ingénierie and Vietnamese company Airport Design and Construction Consultancy round out the list.
In addition to the above-mentioned four, ACV appointed South Korean architecture firm Heerim Architects & Planners, the creator of the airport’s design, as a sub-contractor for assessing the feasibility of Long Thanh’s passenger terminals.
A representative from ACV told Zing that it’s currently working to complete relevant documents so the study could begin as soon as this June. The involved parties don’t have a lot of time from now until the end of 2019, when ACV plans to present the Long Thanh feasibility study during a year-end Assembly meeting.
After that, if things go according to plan, construction could start in late 2020 and finish in 2025. However, as we all know how development projects work in Vietnam, there’s a high chance that progress will lag behind for at least a few years before Long Thanh Airport can start officially accepting passengers.
In December 2016 and early 2017, ACV opened exhibitions in Hanoi, Saigon and Da Nang where members of the public could provide input on which design they find most pleasing and suitable for the Dong Nai airport. From nine designs, it was narrowed down to three, each of which took inspiration from a local plant: nipa palm, lotus and bamboo.
Eventually, in March this year, ACV announced that it had picked the blueprint of a South Korean firm, which crafted the plan for Long Thanh using – you wouldn’t have guessed it – the lotus as inspiration.
It’s still very early to make conjectures about which contractor will eventually be tasked with constructing the aerodrome. Nonetheless, in September last year, a Hanoi-based company was in hot water after suggesting that a Chinese company undertake the project.
[Photo via Zing]
