Hanoi, HCMC runway fix priced at $179 mln

Renovating runways at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi is set to cost VND2.28 trillion ($98.2 million) over 23.5 months, the ministry proposed to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

At Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, upgrades would cost VND1.87 trillion ($80.6 million) over 26.5 months.

If state budget were to be used, the ministry requested VND950 billion ($41 million) from the 2016-2020 medium term period, and the remaining VND3.2 trillion ($138 million) from 2021-2025.

Another option would be to let state-owned Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) take over the projects using its own fund.

An official at ACV, which manages 22 airports across the country, said if the funding plan is approved this month, repairs would commence in August.

Inspections since 2017 revealed runways and taxiways at Vietnam’s two largest airports show cracks, factures, subsidence and crumbling expansion joint material between concrete slabs as a result of overload.

Although renovation plans have been repeatedly discussed, no work has been carried out as the state failed to allocate funding.

Tan Son Nhat, the largest airport in Vietnam, received over 40 million passengers in 2019, 1.6 times higher than its intended capacity of 25 million per year, while Noi Bai handled 29 million compared to design capacity of 21 million, official data showed.