An artist's impression of the Long Thanh International Airport
in the southern Dong Nai Province. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Transport. 

Construction of the first phase of the Long Thanh International Airport will begin January 5, 2021, says Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The. 

Following the groundbreaking ceremony, contractors will bring in materials for airport's fence, concrete structures and runways.

Earlier, the Airport Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), the main project investor, checked the entire land for bombs, mines and other unexploded ordnances.

So far, authorities in the southern province of Dong Nai, where the airport will be located, have handed over 1,600 of 1,800 hectares of land required for the first phase of the mega airport.

The government had approved construction of the $4.6 billion first phase of the Long Thanh International Airport last November. If things go smoothly, the first phase is scheduled for completion in 2025.

The first phase will include a 4-kilometer long runway with a width of 75 meters and a system of taxiways and apron, and a 373,000-square-meter passenger terminal designed to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year.

This will be the first of three phases of the airport that is expected to be completed by 2040. By then, it will have four runways, four passenger terminals and auxiliaries to accommodate 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo every year.

Lying 40 kilometers east of HCMC, the airport is expected to take up the overflow from the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, which is the largest existing airport in the country.