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VietNamNet Bridge – The Government has told the Ministry of Transport to urgently submit a joint venture plan involving foreign investment in developing Phu Bai International Airport in Thua Thien-Hue Province

In Document 5217/VPCP-KTN, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai ordered the ministry to work with relevant agencies over completion of such a joint venture plan and submit it to the Prime Minister in response to a recent proposal by the Thua Thien-Hue People’s Committee.

Last month, the province wrote to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, asking him to urge the ministry to finalize the joint venture plan for the 527-hectare airport in the central region.

The province said Middle Airport Corp. had held several rounds of talks with Singapore’s Changi Airports International Pte. Ltd. (CAI) for establishing a joint venture to build Phu Bai into a modern international airport.

The Singaporean airport investment firm was the first foreign investor interested in Phu Bai Airport development and has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Middle Airports Authority of Vietnam in Hanoi in February 2008.

CAI executives had told the Daily after the MOU signing ceremony that the form of its investment in Phu Bai Airport would depend on further discussions with the Vietnamese side as well as studying the potential and operation of this airport.

In August last year, the Prime Minister approved in principle a joint venture of Vietnamese and foreign investors to develop Phu Bai Airport, with the Vietnamese side holding a controlling stake.

The transport ministry was told to collaborate with related agencies and Thua Thien-Hue Province to map out plans to set up the joint venture for submission to the Prime Minister before negotiations with the foreign partner.

The order came after the Prime Minister passed a master plan to upgrade Phu Bai Airport between now and 2020, with a vision towards 2030, at a total investment cost of VND12.5 trillion (around US$642 million).

The master plan envisages capital will come from different sources to develop Phu Bai into an international airport able to receive modern aircraft including Airbus A320s, A321s, Boeing B767s and B777-200 LRs.

The airport is expected to handle five million passengers a year in 2020 compared to over 500,000 passengers as currently, and nine million passengers in 2030. The annual cargo volume will reach 100,000 tons in 2020 and 200,000 tons in 2030.

The airport will have parking plots for more than 20 and 43 aircraft in those years respectively. The plan also outlines expansion of the current runway in the next decade before a second runway will be built, possibly after 2030.

VietNamNet/SGT

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