VietNamNet Bridge – Many voters expressed their distress about the golf course to be built in Tan Son Nhat Airport and protested the plan to construct Long Thanh Airport in a meeting with National Assembly (NA) deputies in HCMC last week.

Voter Le Van Sang wondered why the golf course covering hundreds of hectares is to be built in the airport while the Ministry of Transport argued that there is not enough land for the facility’s expansion. Voter Pham Huu Binh, meanwhile, pondered if using the airport’s land to build the golf course is the right thing while the airport still lacks parking areas for planes and taxis.

Doctor Nguyen Dang Diep, an air force veteran, insists that the golf course must be built far from residential areas because weed-killers used in the facility will be harmful to surrounding water sources.

Most voters therefore suggested relocating the golf course to ensure the safety of air traffic and to avoid causing negative impacts on nearby residents.

Vo Thi Dung, deputy head of the city’s delegation of NA deputies, said that these ideas would be presented at the NA sitting that kicked off in Hanoi on Monday. But she noted that constructing the golf course in the airport is subject to legal regulations, so it doesn’t break any laws.

Local voters’ concerns about the golf course’s effect on local residents would be submitted to relevant ministries and agencies by the city’s deputies for a clear response, Dung promised.

According to voters who are former workers in the aviation industry, Long Thanh Airport’s construction costing an estimated US$7.8 billion is wasteful in the context that the capacity of other newly-upgraded airports has yet to be used up. Building Long Thanh Airport should only be taken into account in the next 30 to 50 years, they insisted.

While children in many areas of Long Thanh struggle to travel to school due to a lack of bridges, developing the airport with such a huge cost is a waste of money, Sang stressed. He suggested the nation shouldn’t build the airport right now and use the money for other purposes instead.

Le Trong Sanh, former chief of flight management at Tan Son Nhat, who previously sent a document to the Government proposing not to build Long Thanh Airport, said that the argument of the transport ministry that building Long Thanh for US$7.8 billion is much cheaper than expanding Tan Son Nhat for US$9.1 billion and Binh Hoa Airport costing US$7.5 billion is unreasonable.

With only US$1 billion needed to lengthen runways and construct more terminals and expand Tan Son Nhat, the facility is still usable, meaning it is unnecessary to build another facility, he reasoned.

Source: SGT