Van Nam and Anh Quan
The shortcomings were brought to light after Quang Ninh Province and the investor Sun Group suddenly delayed the ground-breaking ceremony of the project covering 290 hectares in Van Don Economic Zone to later this year, instead of March 27 as previously planned.
Expert Pham Sanh said copying the design and technical figures of Phan Thiet airport in the central province of Binh Thuan for use in Quang Ninh airport would push up the investment of the project and make the airport unable to handle large aircraft as expected.
What Sanh said has grounds as the project had a total investment of less than VND5.13 trillion (over US$238 million) in accordance with the feasibility study carried out by a consortium of Korea Airports Corporation, Joinus Vietnam Co. Ltd. and Posco E&C Co. Ltd.
However, the investment of the airport project mounted to VND7.5 trillion after Quang Ninh Province announced Sun Group as the investor of the project.
Dr. Nguyen Thien Tong, former dean of the aviation technology department of the HCMC University of Technology, said the Quang Ninh airport project unveiled that a number of airports in Vietnam do not have outstanding designs as consultants and investors often copy other airports.
Bui Trung Dung, head of the Construction Management Department under the Ministry of Construction, said in reality many investors do not want to pay much for consultants as the former is not sure their projects could be translated into reality or not. Consequently, the feasibility studies are usually turned down by competent agencies due to technical shortcomings.
Awaiting comments
Technical errors are among the main reasons behind the ground-breaking delay in Quang Ninh airport project. The provincial government plans to organize a meeting next week for ministries and agencies to comment on the feasibility study of the project before allowing construction to begin.
Earlier, a source from the provincial government attributed the ground-breaking delay to an incomplete road leading to the airport project site.
However, Dung of the ministry said the ministry has detected flaws in the passenger terminal and ventilation system designs of the Quang Ninh airport project. The consultant has been criticized for these.
Sanh proposed strict punitive sanctions against the consultant by banning it from participating in other projects for years. Relevant State agencies need to review and revise procedures and regulations on feasibility studies, and require constructive comments of independent entities on big projects.
Dung, who appraised the feasibility study of the airport project, said the investor has been told to design an airport able to handle international flights as approved by the Prime Minister.
Dung noted that Sun Group has asked the consultant to take into account comments of relevant agencies to adjust the feasibility study.
Quang Ninh airport is designed to have one runway meeting 4E standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and a parking area for at least four Boeing B777 and Airbus A321 aircraft. The terminal can handle two million passengers and 10,000 tons of cargo per year by 2020.
The airport will have its parking area expanded for seven Boeing B777s, and will handle five million passengers and 30,000 tons of goods a year by 2030.
The project will be implemented under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) format. Of the investment of VND7.5 trillion, construction and equipment account for more than VND5.25 trillion and site clearance costs VND734.2 billion. The investor expects to recover the investment capital within 45 years.
Đăng ký: VietNam News