Work begins on twin-purpose airport in central Vietnam

The work is set to be completed next year.

Located more than four hours east of Ho Chi Minh City, the 543-hectare airport in the beach town Phan Thiet will be used for both military and civilian purposes.

Speaking at the airport’s ground breaking ceremony, Senior Lieutenant-General Tran Don, Deputy Minister of National Defense, urged the Air Defense-Air Force, investor of the military part of the airport, to quickly clear any UXOs in the area and continue working with local authorities to speed up site clearance, the People's Military Newspaper reported.

The Hanoi-based Rang Dong Joint-stock Company has been appointed investor of the civilian part of the airport. However, no information has been released on when work will begin on this part.

The government approved a plan to build the Phan Thiet airport in 2009. Work on the project was previously scheduled to start in 2015 and be completed in 2018. However, a lack of investment funds had delayed it.

At a meeting with provincial authorities last month, Don said the investment capital problem had been solved after former Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved building the airport with state budget funds.

The cost for the airport will stay at around VND10 trillion ($434 million).

The country currently has 22 civilian airports, including 10 international ones. The Tan Son Nhat in HCMC and Noi Bai in Hanoi are the country’s two biggest airports.

Under a master plan approved by the government, the country will have 28 airports by 2030.