Long Thanh Airport, when
completed and put into operation, will be one of the important growth centers of
the Southeast region. (Photo. Perspective of the passenger terminal of Long
Thanh Airport phase 1).
The driving force of development from
"super" airports and "super" seaports
Long Thanh Airport phase 1 has officially started construction
in early 2021. As expected, the project will be completed and put into
operation in 2025.
With a designed capacity to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2
million tons of cargo per year in phase 1, and 100 million passengers and 5
million tons of cargo per year when the whole construction is completed, Long Thanh Airport will be the largest airport in the
country in the future. With that position, Long Thanh Airport is expected to
create a great impetus to promote socio-economic development not only of Dong
Nai but also of the Southeast region and the whole country in general.
Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Deputy Minister of Transport
said that the Long Thanh Airport Project is one of the very important
investment targets to promote the competitiveness of the country in general and
the Southeast key economic region in
particular. When Long Thanh Airport comes into operation, it will promote
regional tourism and be the gateway to bring international tourists to Vietnam
and Vietnamese tourists to the world. The flow of tourist will bring
significant revenue for commercial activities and accompanying services.
Currently, Dong Nai is also researching to
develop an airport city model to expand the spillover of development momentum
from the Long Thanh airport project.
Meanwhile, according to the master plan for
development of Vietnam's seaport system in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision
to 2050, Cai Mep - Thi Vai Seaport, located in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province will
be one of two special seaports of the country, which functions as a gateway
port and an international transshipment port.
Over the years, the volume of goods has grown steadily; In 2020
alone, the volume of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Seaport reached nearly 113 million tons, including more than 7.5 million TEU
containers, accounting for 16% of the country's total cargo and 34% of the
total container cargo through Vietnam's seaports. Successfully welcomed one of the world's largest container ships
today with a tonnage of 214,121 DWT, thereby enhancing the position of Ba Ria -
Vung Tau Seaport and of Vietnam.
Therefore, for the seaport sector, the seaport system of Ba Ria
- Vung Tau Province, especially the Cai Mep - Thi Vai deep-water port cluster,
is considered to become the seaport center of the Southeast region in the
future.
According to Mr. Nguyen Duy Minh, General Secretary of the
Vietnam Logistics Business Association, with Long Thanh Airport, the southern
region has an additional point of connection for large goods trade by air in addition to the connection by sea at Cai Mep - Thi Vai Seaport.
Speaking at the meeting with the delegation of the Ministry of
Transport on developing the detailed planning of Dong Nai Seaport in May, Mr. Nguyen Hong Linh, Member
of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee
said that all Economic activities of the Southeast region in the coming time
will be towards Long Thanh and Cai Mep - Thi Vai areas. “The new development
center of the Southeast region will be the Long Thanh and Cai Mep areas. All
economic activities of the region will revolve around these two new development
centers," emphasized Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen
Hong Linh.
Ships loading goods at Cai
Mep Seaport
Spread the momentum of development
At the 3rd session, the 15th National Assembly, two important
transport infrastructure projects of the Southeast region, the Ring Road No. 3-HCMC and the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway, were approved by
the National Assembly. These are two transport infrastructure projects that are
expected to create a breakthrough in development for the whole Southeast region
and contribute to connecting and spreading the development momentum of the
"super" Long Thanh airport and the "super" Cai Mep - Thi
Vai seaport in the future.
In fact, the investment and construction of a synchronous
transport infrastructure system is an urgent requirement to remove the
"bottlenecks", create a breakthrough for the Southeast region in
general as well as maximize the development
potential and advantages of two new development "centers" of the
region, namely Long Thanh Airport and Cai Mep - Thi Vai Seaport.
Mr. Nguyen Van The, Minister of Transport said that Cai Mep - Thi Vai Seaport cluster
and Long Thanh Airport are the two most important works of the Southern Key
Economic Zone and the projects that will create a breakthrough for socio-economic development.
In order to realize the goal of making Long Thanh Airport and
Cai Mep - Thi Vai Seaport cluster become the
driving force for the development of the whole Southeast region in particular
and the whole country in general, the investment in transport infrastructure connecting between the
"super" airport and the "super" seaport is a key factor.
Assoc. - Dr. Ho Thi Thu Hoa, Director of the Vietnam Logistics
Research and Development Institute, said that when Long Thanh Airport is
completed and put into operation, it will create a great impetus to promote
economic development. That includes the logistics industry. However, for this
potential to become a reality, it is required that the connecting transport
infrastructure system must also be invested and built to meet the needs.
“Developing the transport infrastructure system connecting the region plays an
extremely important role and is an important factor for success. One of the important factors to evaluate the efficiency of logistics activities is the time of operation"
said Assoc. Prof - Dr. Ho Thi Thu Hoa.
Assoc. Prof - Dr. Ho Thi Thu Hoa also said that in order to have
a transport infrastructure system connecting the region synchronously, not only
efforts made from Dong Nai Province,
but also the neighboring localities.
Phan Anh