New turn for Phan Thiet Airport BOT Project

Perspective of Phan Thiet Airport Project.

Progress pressure

After nearly 10 years of struggling to implement without any concrete results, the Phan Thiet Airport Project - civil aviation category is facing important changes.

Accordingly, at the end of last week, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 4428/UBND-KTTH to the Ministries of National Defense, Public Security, Construction, Culture - Sports and Tourism requesting their opinions on the appraisal of the dossier for the implementation of the Phan Thiet Airport Project - civil aviation category in Mui Ne ward, Lam Dong province.

This is the basis for the People's Committee of Lam Dong province to carry out procedures to submit to the Provincial People's Council for approval of the investment policy of Phan Thiet Airport Project - civil aviation category under the BOT form (expected to be approved in October 2025) and prepare a dossier to request approval of the investment policy for this project in the form of bidding to select investors using land.

Phan Thiet Airport consists of two main parts.

The military part, invested by the Ministry of National Defense , was completed and put into operation from the end of 2023.

Civil aviation section includes:
Aircraft parking lot 170.5 m x 455 m, meeting 6 parking positions (2 Code E positions, 4 Code C positions); Two taxiways connecting to the parking lot, size 121.5 m x 23 m, each side of the taxiway is 10.5 m wide; Air traffic control tower has 12 floors, 45 m high, working cabin is 90 m2 wide, 3-storey operator house, area 850 m2; Passenger terminal area is about 16,000 - 18,000 m2, meeting capacity of 2 million passengers/year; Road connecting to the airport entrance and functional areas, width from 2 - 6 lanes; and a number of other synchronous technical infrastructure works.

Specifically, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee requested the Ministry of National Defense to comment on the conditions and requirements according to Decision No. 159/QD-TTg dated July 15, 2025 of the Prime Minister approving the list of dual-use defense works at the military airport in Phan Thiet, related to the implementation of the project through the form of bidding to select investors using land; and issues under the state management of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security (if any).

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Construction was asked to give its opinion on the suitability of the objectives, scale, location, and operational requirements of the investment project with national sectoral plans approved by competent authorities, along with other issues under the state management of the Ministry of Construction.

In particular, state management agencies on construction and transportation are also consulted on conditions and standards to ensure the operation of investment projects; requirements on investor capacity for airport construction investment projects according to the provisions of law.

According to the application for approval of investment policy, Phan Thiet Airport Project - civil aviation category deployed in Mui Ne ward, Lam Dong province (formerly Binh Thuan province) has a capacity scale serving flight activities of civil aviation aircraft level 4E, ensuring a capacity of 2 million passengers/year until 2030; operating irregular domestic and international flights (if any) to serve the travel needs of people, tourists and domestic and foreign investors.

In addition, Phan Thiet Airport also has another important mission: serving humanitarian and social security relief flights; serving as a backup airport for Tan Son Nhat and Cam Ranh International Airports when needed in case of emergency.

It is expected that the project with a total investment of VND3,797 billion (excluding site clearance costs) will be implemented in accordance with the Investment Law; the operation period is 50 years from the date the investor is decided to allocate land, lease land or change the land use purpose.

If approved by the competent authority, the project can be implemented within 28 months, including the time for investment preparation, investor selection, construction (12 months) and operational acceptance. This progress is considered very tight, but necessary to soon put Phan Thiet Airport into full operation for military and civil aviation functions.

The leader of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee said that after being selected to implement the project, the investor will prepare and submit a Feasibility Study Report and legal documents according to regulations, ensuring investment efficiency, feasibility, compliance with planning at all levels and approval by competent state agencies.

Add appeal to the project

Previously, at the end of August 2025, Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 2709/UBND-XDCT requesting the Prime Minister to allow the termination of the BOT investment form under the PPP Law to switch to the investment form under the Investment Law for the Phan Thiet Airport Project - civil aviation category.

It should be added that this BOT project was signed by the People's Committee of Binh Thuan province (now Lam Dong) with the investor, Rang Dong Joint Stock Company, in 2016, with the goal of building a civil aviation project on the scale of a level 3C airport, with a capacity of 1 million passengers/year.

According to the contract, the project has a construction period of 3 years, with a payback period of up to 70 years. However, up to this point, the project has made very little progress on the ground.

The People's Committee of Binh Thuan province and the investor agreed to terminate the contract ahead of schedule due to many difficulties in implementing the BOT model and the payback period being too long (70 years according to the original plan and 47 years according to the adjusted plan).

Mr. Nguyen Hong Hai, Vice Chairman of Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee, said that the conversion from BOT form to investment form according to the Investment Law will bring many benefits to the Phan Thiet Airport Project - civil aviation category such as: shortening the time to carry out investment procedures from 8 - 10 months to 2 - 5 months; more flexible capital mobilization ability...

Besides, if implemented under the BOT contract, after 47 years, the investor must hand over the Phan Thiet Airport Project - civil aviation category to the State for operation, exploitation and use.

“Meanwhile, investing under the Investment Law, the project's operating period is not more than 50 years, but based on the province's planning and actual needs, investors can apply for an extension or hand over the project to the State for exploitation and use. This helps increase the project's attractiveness in attracting investors,” said Mr. Nguyen Hong Hai.

It is known that the Phan Thiet Airport Project - civil aviation category is a key transport infrastructure project, of strategic significance for socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security of Lam Dong province and the region.

“The project implementation will create a driving force to attract investment, promote tourism, services, trade, expand air traffic connections with major economic centers in the country and internationally; at the same time, make an important contribution to the formation of a synchronous infrastructure system, enhancing the position and image of the locality,” Lam Dong provincial leaders assessed.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/nga-re-moi-cho-du-an-bot--san-bay-phan-thiet-d406183.html