Quang Ninh plays the “big game” with Van Don Economic Zone

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Quang Ninh plays the “big game” with Van Don Economic Zone.

Opening doors to the world

Van Don International Airport is one of the few projects receiving positive comments from the leading construction experts of the State Check and Acceptance Board.

According to Notice No.32/TB-HDNTNN published on December 19, the board accepted the completed Van Don International Airport, including landing and take-off lines, runways, beacon system, flight zone, specialised equipment, power supply, and air traffic tower.

Auxiliary items such as a garden and drainage have also been completed by contractors, satisfying design requirements as well as technical standards.

After checking Van Don International Airport on Saturday, the board said that work had been completed, meeting the design quality and technical standards to be fully eligible for operation.

Lai Xuan Thanh, former director of Civil Aviation Authority Vietnam (CAAV) cum chairman of Airport Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), said the project was finished at a “rare lightning speed,” especially for a large-scale transportation infrastructure project with several modern and technically complex features.

In fact, it took only three swift years since the first airport in Northeast Vietnam was kicked-off in September 2015 until the King Air B350 first landed in Van Don International Airport at the end of July 2018.

Van Don International Airport has a 3.6 km long runway, capable to receive the largest aircrafts of the global civil aviation industry and thecapacity of the airport is about 2.6 million passengers per year.

Not only fast in progress, the board’s inspection of construction quality showed that geometric dimensions, input materials, grain composition, and the tightness of the pavement’s structural layers have all exceeded the technical instructions.

The board assessed that the airport pavement texture meets the requirements, according to the design as well as the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

The nearly perfect result is one of the bases for the competent state agencies to announce the opening of Van Don International Airport, officially welcoming the first commercial flight on December 30.

Along with the Ha Long-Van Don Expressway project as well as improving and upgrading National Highway 18 through Ha Long-Mong Duong with the total investment of VND14.047 trillion ($610.74 million) expected to open for testingon December 30, Van Don International Airport is considered as a bridge connecting Van Don SAEZ with the region and the world.

Results of resource mobilisation in BOT form in Quang Ninh, source: Quang Ninh People’s Committee

New model

Even though the functional authorities have not much experience, but with efforts, positive, creative, transparency, and prestige, Quang Ninh province successfully attracted Sun Group to invest in Van Don and join the Van Don International Airport, Ha Long-Van Don Expressway, and the international marina projects.

About the private sector’s role in infrastructure construction, Vu Van Dien, deputy chairman of the Quang Ninh People’s Committee, stressed that in the context of budgetary restrictions, it is necessary to diversify investment forms and attract resources from all economic sectors, especially from the private sector, to reduce the pressure on the budget as well as boost deployment and quality of infrastructure projects.

In the upcoming time, together with the Haiphong-Halong-Van Don Expressway, Van Don International Airport will connect provinces and cities in the country with the regional economic-tourism system. Every route to Van Don will be faster and more convenient.

On a business trip to Quang Ninh province in early 2018 to witness the dramatic change of transport infrastructure, Nguyen Van The, Minister of Transportation, affirmed that the province succeeded due to the leaders’ prompt and sensible decisions, and skillful mobilization of large public capital to build big projects.

Only in three-four years, Quang Ninh province has mobilized over VND48 trillion ($2.08 billion) to build transportation infrastructure, with the majority made up by private capital.

As an example, the state paid VND300 billion ($13.04 million) to build the bridge at Hon Gai International Harbour at Halong Bay, while the developer paid VND400 billion ($17.39 million).

The state invests partly or concentrates on site clearance, then enterprises invest in the main parts to speed up the progress.

This is also the key that helped the province deploy large-scale projects quickly.

The forms of PPP and BOT mobilisation have become an important source for the breakthrough in Quang Ninh’s development, helping solve the biggest “bottlenecks” in socioeconomic development.