HCMC persists with demand for military land to build road near airport

In a letter recently to the Ministry of National Defense, the city People’s Committee said it needs 1,100 square meters of land to build a road linking Tran Quoc Hoan Street with Cong Hoa Street.

The new road will run parallel to the existing Cong Hoa Street.

That land will also be used to resettle 33 families, mostly of soldiers, that will be affected by the new road.

This is the second time the city has sought the land plot after its first plea in May failed to elicit a response from the ministry.

The road will run 4.4 kilometers, ranging in width from 29.5 to 48 meters, and have two tunnels.

It was first proposed by the city transport department in 2016 as a four-lane street costing VND1.4 trillion ($60.2 million). Later the city decided to add two more lanes and allocate VND4.8 trillion ($206.5 million) for it.

Land acquisition will account for 55 percent of the cost, construction for 36 percent and the rest for project consulting and management fees.

In May Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc green-lighted construction of a third terminal at Tan Son Nhat airport at a cost of VND10.99 trillion ($472 million) to raise its capacity to 50 million passengers a year. Construction is expected to begin in October 2021 and take almost two years.

Vietnam’s largest airport received over 40 million passengers last year, 1.6 times its designed capacity of 25 million.