Hanoi (VNA)൲ – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, head of the State Steering Committee for national important transport projects, on January 25 said that higher-level officials must take responsibility and be punished for the slow progress of of the Long Thanh international airport project.

Chaired a meeting on the implementation of the project on January 25, PM Chinh requested relevant agencies and individuals to promote the highest sense of responsibility to ensure that the project will be completed this year as directed by the Party Central Committee. He emphasised that the Long Thanh international airport is an important national project, the largest airport in Vietnam, with great significance, and must be carried out urgently. Vietnam wants to achieve double-digit economic growth in the coming years, so transport infrastructure must be one step ahead, PM Chinh said. He said if the project faces difficulties, problems or needs human resources, funding, or mechanisms, ministries and agencies should report them to the Government and the Prime Minister for shortly addressing.

The Long Thanh international airport project includes four component projects. Component project No.1 is the construction of headquarters of state agencies; component project No. 2 is the construction of works serving flight management; component project No. 3 builds essential works; and component project No. 4 is ground service works.

♒ The progress of the component projects No. 1, 2, 4 are ensured, some items that are behind schedule have been identified and there are plans to accelerate progress. Up to now, the work of site clearance has been nearly completed. The construction of connecting traffic routes is being actively implemented.

Meanwhile, component project No. 3 - the most important one of the airport project with essential works including runways, passenger terminals and auxiliary items, has a total investment of more than 99 trillion VND (nearly 4 billion USD) has had only 36% of workload completed. PM requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and relevant agencies to review, clarify responsibilities and handle officials responsible for the delay in allocating capital for the construction of a animal/plant quarantine station headquarters in component project No. 1. The Ministry of Transport has punished officials who are responsible for the project delay, but the work has not run as expected, the PM said, asking to identify responsibilities of those at higher levels. Regarding component project No. 3, the PM asked units and workers to overcome difficulties, speed up works to soon ensure the planned progress. The PM emphasised the need to promote experience in implementing the 500kV circuit-3 power transmission line project, increase subcontractors, including contractors who have done well at Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat airports, add more human resources, and if necessary, mobilise the police and military forces for tasks that can be done manually. He requested agencies to complete the procedures to implement the construction of runway 2 before February 15. Regarding the connecting transport infrastructure, with the requirement to basically complete in 2025, the PM directed the Ministry of Transport and relevant agencies to urgently implement the procedures, while the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Planning and Investment were asked to urgently balance and arrange capital. Regarding raw materials, the PM requested Dong Nai province to comply with the Law on Minerals and resolutions of the National Assembly and the Government, directly hand over the raw material mines to the construction contractors, without intermediaries. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was asked to coordinate with Dong Nai to handle this issue./.