Vietnam’s Cam Ranh airport to have new runway funded by $47mn loan
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has allowed the Khanh Hoa administration to mobilize VND1 trillion (US$47.07 million) in capital to build a second runway at Cam Ranh International Airport, according to provincial chairman Nguyen Chien Thang.
The province will borrow loans at preferential interest rates and will repay them by leasing its land and with runway use fees, Thang said.
Construction is expected to start late this year or early 2015, according to the chairman.
Cam Ranh International Airport is 37km, or a 40-minute drive, from Nha Trang, a famed resort city which is also the capital of Khanh Hoa.
Many airlines are eying services connecting Cam Ranh to China, India, and Cambodia next year, according to an airport executive.
These services will use large aircraft so a new runway must be built to be able to receive them, he said.
The airport currently serves international commercial flights carrying Russian and South Korean tourists to visit Nha Trang.
The sole 3,048m runway at the terminal is deteriorating, but the airport cannot close for months to repair it, according to the provincial chairman.
