Sapa Airport under the private public partnership

The project has a total investment capital of VND6.94 trillion ($301.74 million), VND4 trillion ($173.9 million) of which will be mobilised from private investors. The airport is expected to take 46 years to break even.

The construction is expected to be divided into two phases. The first phase’s construction is planned to implement this year, which has an investment capital of VND4.2 trillion ($182.6 million) with the capacity of 1.5 million passengers per year.

The second phase is planned to be developed in 2028 with a capacity of three million passengers.

Land acquisition, including land clearance and compensation, will be funded from the public component while construction will be covered from the funds contributed by private companies.

Sapa Airport is one of six new airports approved for construction by 2030. The Ministry of Planning and Investment is assigned to co-operate with the Ministry of Finance and the relevant authorities to arrange the state budget in 2021-2025 to develop the project. Vietnam has 22 airports at present.

In the first six months, Lao Cai welcomed 1.1 million passengers, up 21 per cent on-year, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.