During a working session with the People’s Committee of Can Tho City recently, Pham Thanh Phong, Deputy Director of Vietnam Airlines’s Planning and Goods Marketing Department, said there is no aviation logistics center in the country. The construction of such center in three major airports of Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat and Da Nang is currently unable because of a lack of land.
Can Tho City is the heard of the Mekong Delta region
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This center should be closely linked to the airport, with an expected area of about 5 hectares in the first phase and 15-20 hectares in the long term, Phong said, adding that the ambition of this project is not only to invest in the present but also in the future for the entire Mekong Delta - the country's strongest seafood and agricultural material area.
Vietnam Airlines representatives also suggested the city to provide more information on raw material areas, fishery and agricultural production zones as well as industrial parks and export processing zones in the city so that the project can be built close to demand and avoid an overlap.
Vice Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee Dao Anh Dung expressed the city’s interest and support to the project, saying that there is a lot of available land around the Can Tho Airport and most of the land is for agricultural purpose.
In addition, the area has three main roads of National Highways 91 and 91B and Vo Van Kiet Street. The city has also arranged the fund to build a street connecting Highway 91 to Highway 91B in 2018.
There is also the Hoang Dieu Port near the airport so that the area around the airport is very convenient to the traffic, Dung explained.
According to Dung, Can Tho City has been chosen by the government as the site to build Mekong Delta’s logistics center with total area of 242 hectares in the Cai Cui Port area, however, the city has no aviation logistics center.
Therefore, if the aviation logistics center is built, it will help diversify and promote the development of logistics services throughout the region, Dung said.
"The city is willing to support all necessary information to help the project be deployed in the best way,” Dung said, adding that the city expected the investor complete their project soon to ease its planning.
According to the Can Tho Department of Industry and Trade, the investment of an aviation logistics center in the Can Tho City not only facilitates the transportation of agricultural and aquatic products for the Can Tho City but also for the whole region, contributing to increasing the products’ added value and meeting demands of many enterprises.
The department estimated that the export volume of the whole region is nearly 18 million tons, of which 70-80 percent is transported to Ho Chi Minh City and the Southeastern provinces for exports.
The Can Tho City alone exports about 800,000 tons of rice, 170,000 tons of aquatic products and a large amount of fruits worth about US$100 million yearly.
The city now has five industrial zones and plans to build three more. Its neighboring provinces of Hau Giang, Vinh Long, Dong Thap, An Giang and Kien Giang also have many industrial parks.
