Expert: Long Thanh Airport's connecting infrastructure still has many concerns

Highways and national highways are overloaded.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Quan, representative of Dai Phat Plastic Company, said that his company regularly transports goods from Long Thanh commune (Dong Nai province) to Ho Chi Minh City and vice versa. However, this 45 km long route always takes a lot of travel time, especially on weekends.

"On weekends, people in Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces travel through the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh Expressway very crowded. In addition, National Highway 51 connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Dong Nai is also very crowded. These are two main routes from Ho Chi Minh City to Long Thanh but traveling is extremely difficult," said Mr. Quan.

Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway often has long traffic jams, making people and businesses frustrated. (Photo: Luong Y)

According to Mr. Quan, his company’s trucks usually take at least 2 hours to get to Long Thanh. On days when there is a traffic jam, it takes 3 hours to get there. This leads to increased logistics costs for the company due to the long time the trucks are on the road.

Representatives of many businesses and residents in Ho Chi Minh City shared that Long Thanh airport is progressing very quickly. However, the traffic infrastructure connecting Long Thanh to Ho Chi Minh City is progressing quite slowly. If Long Thanh airport is put into operation early, the pressure on the infrastructure will be very large.

Responding to VTC News, Dr. Ngo Viet Nam Son, a planning and architecture expert, said that the construction progress of Long Thanh airport is very good. It is expected that the first technical flight will take off from Noi Bai airport and land on Long Thanh airport runway on December 19, and Long Thanh will be put into commercial operation in the first half of 2026.

The runway package No. 1 has basically completed the road section, while the runway No. 2 is being accelerated. The passenger terminal has completed the concrete structure, underground part and 4 floors; the central steel roof has also reached the finishing height. Currently, the rough construction work has reached more than 95% and is expected to be completed in August 2025.

However, according to Mr. Son, the progress of building regional connectivity infrastructure has not kept pace with the construction progress of Long Thanh airport. Although the airport is expected to be put into operation at the end of the year, the connecting traffic system is still messy and unsynchronized.

Mr. Son analyzed that the connecting infrastructure here includes: First is the inter-regional highway system, including routes connecting to Long Thanh and the Long Thanh - Dau Giay highway expansion project.

Second are the access roads to the highway, access roads to national highways, access roads to provincial roads; Third is the railway, including metro (Thu Thiem - Long Thanh metro; Ben Thanh - Bien Hoa - Long Thanh...) and high-speed railway, according to the plan there will be a station in Long Thanh.

“ In principle, the progress of connecting infrastructure and the progress of airport implementation must go hand in hand, meaning that when the project is completed, all of the above factors must be present,” said Mr. Son.

According to Mr. Son, the current progress requires different priorities in the issue of connecting infrastructure. For example, when the airport is in use, in phase 1 there may not be a metro and high-speed railway, because these factors cannot be completed soon. Meanwhile, expressways and roads connecting to national highways are mandatory and the main goal should be focused on completing at the same time as the completion of phase 1 of the airport.

“I want to emphasize the priority issue, because if the regional road and highway connection is not completed in time, it will be difficult for the airport to operate when it is inaugurated,” Dr. Ngo Viet Nam Son shared.

Dr. Ngo Viet Nam Son, planning and architecture expert. (Photo: D.V)

According to Mr. Son, to promote the effectiveness of Long Thanh airport, the entire cargo terminal at Tan Son Nhat airport should be moved to Long Thanh. It is necessary to build a cargo terminal for this airport instead of focusing only on the passenger terminal. Because, when put into operation, the cargo terminal can be used immediately, this is the important income generating factor for Long Thanh airport in the first phase.

Mr. Son said that currently, the advantage is that there is a runway. If all goods from Tan Son Nhat are transferred to Long Thanh, it will not only promote the efficiency of Long Thanh (in the context of lacking connecting infrastructure) but also increase the room for Tan Son Nhat to solve the shortcomings, such as adding electric bus routes connecting terminals T1, T2, T3.

Experts emphasize that with inadequate infrastructure, we should not rush to concentrate all international flights on Long Thanh. We need to carefully consider economic efficiency, because in reality, although Tan Son Nhat's infrastructure is somewhat limited and congested, it is still operating well.

Therefore, although Long Thanh airport will be the largest in the country in the future, in phase 1, Tan Son Nhat's role is still more important than Long Thanh.

“Another key point is that when placing Long Thanh in the regional connection relationship, the roads not only connect Dong Nai with Ho Chi Minh City but also with the Mekong Delta and beyond,” Mr. Son shared.

Multimodal Infrastructure Development

Dr. Ngo Viet Nam Son commented that Ho Chi Minh City is gradually becoming a megacity, so it is necessary to focus on a multi-modal infrastructure strategy axis, connecting localities together.

First, it is necessary to build highways to serve urban logistics and industrial logistics. Second, it is necessary to develop metro lines, which is an opportunity to develop TOD urban areas (urban development model oriented towards public transport development).

Third is to develop a railway that directly connects industrial zones in the mega-city of Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai with the Cai Mep - Can Gio port cluster. This is the cheapest and most effective mode of transportation implemented by many countries with seaports in the world .

Finally, in terms of waterway transport, it is necessary to re-plan the river system on the Dong Nai River, Saigon River... to collect goods to concentrate on the seaports of Cai Mep - Can Gio, Hiep Phuoc, helping river ports and seaports to connect with each other. At the same time, multimodal transport routes are also connected with each other: goods from roads and railways are collected at river ports, then poured into seaports, increasing logistics efficiency and promoting economic growth.

Mr. Son believes that in the long term, the multimodal transport infrastructure system will be the foundation to help elevate Long Thanh to become the largest airport in Vietnam, a hub for direct flights to Europe, America, Australia... with the leading scale in Asia.

At the same time, Long Thanh airport will be the urban airport center of the Ho Chi Minh City region, with a radius of up to 30 km, located in both Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City.

Experts assess that in the future, Long Thanh airport will reach the leading position nationally and internationally when it has adequate infrastructure and regional connections. However, this will require a long-term scenario to achieve that position.

In the short term, when the connecting traffic infrastructure is not yet complete, the role of Long Thanh airport in phase 1 should be placed in a more realistic position - that is, Long Thanh airport only supports reducing the load on Tan Son Nhat, there should not be a rush to the role of "aviation center" or request to transfer all international flights here.

Dr. Tran Quang Thang, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Economics and Management, shared that for Long Thanh airport to operate effectively, the connecting transport infrastructure system must be synchronous. In particular, major transport routes such as railways and metro must be the pillars. It is urgent to invest in connecting urban railway systems. If delayed, the efficiency of airport exploitation will be reduced.

According to Mr. Thang, Ho Chi Minh City needs to make the most of existing special mechanisms such as Resolution 188 on urban railway development, Resolution 68 on private economic development and the Railway Law 2025 (amended) to speed up progress.

“When these resolutions were issued, many large domestic and international investors expressed their interest and proposed to invest in metro and railway projects in Ho Chi Minh City. This is a positive signal. However, to turn opportunities into results, it is necessary to speed up procedures and build a clear roadmap,” said Mr. Thang.

Mr. Thang said that policies also need to be stable and transparent to create confidence for investors. This helps attract large corporations to invest in key and strategic infrastructure projects, promoting economic development of the entire Ho Chi Minh City region in particular and the whole country in general.

Strong Connectivity Infrastructure in 2026
Traffic and urban expert Tran Ngoc Long assessed that the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay Expressway is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in 2026. The Ben Luc – Long Thanh Expressway has 19/58 km in operation and is expected to complete the entire route by the end of 2026.
In addition, the Bien Hoa – Vung Tau Expressway is also overcoming difficulties to complete in December 2025. Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3 is expected to be completed in 2026.
"If the calculations are correct and the progress is not delayed, some important roads connecting to Long Thanh airport will be put into use in 2026. However, the progress needs to be accelerated to match the time the airport is put into operation (first half of 2026)," said Mr. Long.
According to Mr. Long, 2026 is also the time when many roads in Dong Nai will start construction to connect with Long Thanh airport such as DT773, DT769, DT770B projects. In addition, Cat Lai bridge, Dong Nai 2 bridge, Phu My 2 bridge with a total investment of nearly 52,000 billion VND will also increase the ability to connect Dong Nai with Ho Chi Minh City, especially when Long Thanh airport comes into operation.

DAI VIET

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/chuyen-gia-ha-tang-ket-noi-san-bay-long-thanh-van-con-nhieu-noi-lo-ar962446.html