New development centers of the Southeast region

​Long Thanh Airport, when completed and put into operation, will be one of the important growth centers of the Southeast region. (Photo. Perspective of the passenger terminal of Long Thanh Airport phase 1).

The driving force of development from "super" airports and "super" seaports

Long Thanh Airport phase 1 has officially started construction in early 2021. As expected, the project will be completed and put into operation in 2025.

With a designed capacity to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year in phase 1, and 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo per year when the whole construction is completed, Long Thanh Airport will be the largest airport in the country in the future. With that position, Long Thanh Airport is expected to create a great impetus to promote socio-economic development not only of Dong Nai but also of the Southeast region and the whole country in general.

Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Deputy Minister of Transport said that the Long Thanh Airport Project is one of the very important investment targets to promote the competitiveness of the country in general and the Southeast key economic region in particular. When Long Thanh Airport comes into operation, it will promote regional tourism and be the gateway to bring international tourists to Vietnam and Vietnamese tourists to the world. The flow of tourist will bring significant revenue for commercial activities and accompanying services.

Currently, Dong Nai is also researching to develop an airport city model to expand the spillover of development momentum from the Long Thanh airport project.

Meanwhile, according to the master plan for development of Vietnam's seaport system in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, Cai Mep - Thi Vai Seaport, located in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province will be one of two special seaports of the country, which functions as a gateway port and an international transshipment port.

Over the years, the volume of goods has grown steadily; In 2020 alone, the volume of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Seaport reached nearly 113 million tons, including more than 7.5 million TEU containers, accounting for 16% of the country's total cargo and 34% of the total container cargo through Vietnam's seaports. Successfully welcomed one of the world's largest container ships today with a tonnage of 214,121 DWT, thereby enhancing the position of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Seaport and of Vietnam.

Therefore, for the seaport sector, the seaport system of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province, especially the Cai Mep - Thi Vai deep-water port cluster, is considered to become the seaport center of the Southeast region in the future.

According to Mr. Nguyen Duy Minh, General Secretary of the Vietnam Logistics Business Association, with Long Thanh Airport, the southern region has an additional point of connection for large goods trade by air in addition to the connection by sea at Cai Mep - Thi Vai Seaport.

Speaking at the meeting with the delegation of the Ministry of Transport on developing the detailed planning of Dong Nai Seaport in May, Mr. Nguyen Hong Linh, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee said that all Economic activities of the Southeast region in the coming time will be towards Long Thanh and Cai Mep - Thi Vai areas. “The new development center of the Southeast region will be the Long Thanh and Cai Mep areas. All economic activities of the region will revolve around these two new development centers," emphasized Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Hong Linh.

Ships loading goods at Cai Mep Seaport

Spread the momentum of development

At the 3rd session, the 15th National Assembly, two important transport infrastructure projects of the Southeast region, the Ring Road No. 3-HCMC and the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway, were approved by the National Assembly. These are two transport infrastructure projects that are expected to create a breakthrough in development for the whole Southeast region and contribute to connecting and spreading the development momentum of the "super" Long Thanh airport and the "super" Cai Mep - Thi Vai seaport in the future.

In fact, the investment and construction of a synchronous transport infrastructure system is an urgent requirement to remove the "bottlenecks", create a breakthrough for the Southeast region in general as well as maximize the development potential and advantages of two new development "centers" of the region, namely Long Thanh Airport and Cai Mep - Thi Vai Seaport.

Mr. Nguyen Van The, Minister of Transport said that Cai Mep - Thi Vai Seaport cluster and Long Thanh Airport are the two most important works of the Southern Key Economic Zone and the projects that will create a breakthrough for socio-economic development.

In order to realize the goal of making Long Thanh Airport and Cai Mep - Thi Vai Seaport cluster become the driving force for the development of the whole Southeast region in particular and the whole country in general, the investment in transport infrastructure connecting between the "super" airport and the "super" seaport is a key factor.

Assoc. - Dr. Ho Thi Thu Hoa, Director of the Vietnam Logistics Research and Development Institute, said that when Long Thanh Airport is completed and put into operation, it will create a great impetus to promote economic development. That includes the logistics industry. However, for this potential to become a reality, it is required that the connecting transport infrastructure system must also be invested and built to meet the needs. “Developing the transport infrastructure system connecting the region plays an extremely important role and is an important factor for success. One of the important factors to evaluate the efficiency of logistics activities is the time of operation" said Assoc. Prof - Dr. Ho Thi Thu Hoa.

Assoc. Prof - Dr. Ho Thi Thu Hoa also said that in order to have a transport infrastructure system connecting the region synchronously, not only efforts made from Dong Nai Province, but also the neighboring localities.

Phan Anh