Lam Dong People's Council passed a Resolution to stop the investment policy of the BOT project of Phan Thiet airport.

Previously, the submission of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee stated: Implementing the direction of the Prime Minister, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan Province (old) has deployed the Investment Project to build Phan Thiet Airport - Civil Aviation Category under the BOT form and the project has approved the Feasibility Study Report, with the scale of a level 4C airport project, total investment of 1,693,737 billion VND.

During the implementation process, to ensure long-term development, exploit international routes, improve investment efficiency and airport exploitation, with the permission of the Prime Minister, the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province (old), the Ministry of National Defense has made adjustments to the planning. On February 23, 2018, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 236/QD-TTg approving the adjustment of the Aviation Transport Development Planning for the period up to 2020, with a vision to 2030.

Road to Phan Thiet airport (photo by T. Thi)

The Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction ) has approved the adjustment of the detailed planning of Phan Thiet Airport for the period up to 2020, with a vision to 2030 in Decision No. 1925/QD-BGTVT dated August 29, 2018. Accordingly, Phan Thiet Airport is planned as a 4E-class domestic airport with the role of a joint civil and military airport, with a 3,050 m long runway, a passenger terminal with a designed capacity of 2 million passengers/year. At the same time, Phan Thiet Airport has been included in the list of dual-use defense works of Phan Thiet military airport approved in Decision No. 159/QD-TTg dated August 13, 2025 of the Prime Minister.

Up to now, it has been 9 years since the signing of the project contract. Despite the attention and facilitation of the Government and ministries and branches, the progress of the implementation of the Phan Thiet Airport project under the BOT contract form is still very slow, only stopping at the stage of investment preparation and site clearance, not yet starting construction, so it has not created a driving force for socio-economic development for the locality.

In addition, the previous project scale (level 4C) is no longer suitable for the new planning (level 4E). Therefore, to continue investing in Phan Thiet Airport according to the planning, the Provincial People's Committee has sent a document to the Prime Minister, requesting permission to terminate the BOT investment form under the PPP Law, and switch to the investment form under the Investment Law for the civil aviation category of the project.

In Official Dispatch No. 9014/VPCN-CN dated September 23, 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested the People's Committee of Lam Dong province to base on current legal regulations to terminate the project contract; at the same time, approve or adjust the investment policy of Phan Thiet Airport project (civil aviation category) according to its authority, ensuring compliance with legal regulations.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/hdnd-lam-dong-thong-qua-nghi-quyet-dung-chu-truong-dau-tu-hang-muc-bot-san-bay-phan-thiet-398098.html