The government has issued measures for implementing the Planning for Inland Waterway Infrastructure in the 2021-2030 Period and Vision to 2050, which identifies 17 investment projects using State budget capital and a series of projects upgrading and expanding passenger and cargo ports using enterprise capital. A breakthrough mechanism on access to foreign preferential loans by the government will also be applied for infrastructure projects that effectively connect inland waterway traffic with seaports.
A proposal has been made for a new passenger terminal to be built at Vinh International Airport in north-central Nghe An province with a capacity of 12 million passengers a year and also an additional runway. Current capacity is only 2 million passengers a year.
A project to upgrade the Cai Mep - Thi Vai channel in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province from buoy No.0 to the Cai Mep container port has been approved by the Ministry of Transport, with total investment of VND1.414 trillion ($60.4 million) coming from the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period.
North-central Thanh Hoa province has proposed expansions and upgrades to infrastructure at Tho Xuan Airport costing a total of more than VND3.6 trillion ($154 million). The airport currently has only one runway and already exceeds its designed capacity of 1.2 million passengers a year, with passenger numbers expected to hit 1.6 million by the end of this year.
The Dien Bien Airport expansion project, costing more than VND1.54 trillion ($67.4 million), is expected to begin in December and be completed early in the fourth quarter of 2023. After the upgrade, the airport will have a capacity of welcoming 500,000 passengers a year, an increase of 200,000.