Those who enjoy the quick twenty minute, 60,000Dong taxi ride from Tan Son Nhat Airport into Central Ho Chi Minh City as in for a little jolt. A new airport, Long Thanh airport in Dong Nai province is in the planning stages and is projected to by operational in 2011. This means that a 40 km ride will stand between you and Ho chi Minh City. And that doesn't take into account the traffic.
The government plans to deal with the traffic with a ten lane highway connecting the airport to Ho City as well as one connecting to port town Vung Tau. Will that help? Eventually, perhaps.
OK. So I'm being rather selfish. Tan son Nhat is outdated and because it is in an urban area, expansion is difficult, if not downright impossible. Vietnamese authorities have grandiose dreams of Long Thanh becoming a hub for Southeast Asia. Given the favorable projections for Vietnam's tourism industry and also for their economy overall, this is probably more realistic than the government's usual pipe dreams.
I just hope that the Long Thanh Airport and the new age it heralds for Vietnam's development do not change this most unique of countries too much.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment