The People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District in June 2011 approved a plan to build a 111-hectare golf course in Tan Son Nhat airport, a decision that took the public by surprise.

According to the approved plan, the total area of the project is 157 hectares, 111 of which is devoted to the golf course. The remaining area will see the construction of a 5-star hotel, restaurants and other building complexes (maximum 12 stories in height) to cater for the needs of leisure guests. A complex of luxurious villas and apartments for rent and high-class schools from kindergarten to secondary are also included.

Tran Van Tinh, deputy chairman of the Long Bien Investment Corporation, the project’s investor told Tuoi Tre that the $300-million project to build a golf course in Tan Son Nhat airport and accompanying services in Tan Binh District was approved by the government in 2007 and is expected to complete by June 2013.

Located inside an area that covers Tan Son Nhat airport, the project’s land is under the management of the Ministry of Defense and has remained under-used for years.

“The project not only helps to put this piece land on a prime location to its most effective use, but also adds more green areas to the city. It will also meet the needs of international tourists and foreign firms in Vietnam, and help to increase the city’s budget,” he said, adding that the project would create more than 500 jobs for the locals,” Thinh said.

Responding to the question that the golf course and its adjacent facilities would affect the operation of the airport, Thinh confirmed that a safe space would be created between the project area and the airport’s runway.

Since the entire area is managed by the Ministry of Defense, there would be no need for residential clearance and compensation, he said.

He added that the villas and apartments included in the project would all be for rent, not for sale.
The new schools would also serve the needs of the nearby residents.

At the same time, a $200 million golf course project is underway at Hanoi’s Gia Lam Airport, with the same investor.

This golf course is 117 hectares in total area, including 75 hectares of land for defense purpose and 40 hectares of rice land. This is a violation to the Prime Minister’s Decision 1946 issued in 2009, which stipulates that “golf course projects are not allowed to use rice land… and the place for building golf courses is mainly the midland and mountainous region.”

Normal and abnormal

In the world, several airports also have golf courses, for example the Donmuang Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.

Airports always have vast area of empty land to create safe space for airport on air and on ground. However, it is inappropriate to build golf courses in airports, because golf is the sport event that requires quietness while airports are often noise and have toxic gas discharged by aircraft.

In addition, villas, residential areas and other facilities located near airport can affect flight safety and their own safety since most of air accidents occur during the landing process.

Therefore, some airports in the world that have golf courses are mainly the airports located in remote areas. These airports often have hotels, golf courses and entertainment facilities to serve passengers who wait for transit flights.

Meanwhile, Tan Son Nhat Airport is the biggest and most important airport in Vietnam. The airport’s parking lots for aircraft, cars and the area for passengers are overloaded. It currently has only 31 parking lots for aircrafts for over 40 airlines. The Vietnam Airlines will have 150 aircraft by 2020.

It is very popular that airplanes have to fly around to wait for available parking lots at this airport. Sometimes the airport management board has to hire military parking lots or allow aircraft to park on the runways. The space for cars and passengers is in serious shortage. Vehicles always have to park on the road.

Tan Son Nhat Airport authorities have asked competent agencies’ permission to use the unused land for defense to expand the airport but it is not approved. At this moment, the airport needs at least an additional of 30 parking lots.

It is odd that up to 157 hectares of land in this airport will be devoted to building a golf course.

In the world, big cities often have at least 2-3 airports and plenty of land reserved for future expansion. The Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, opened in 1974, is now an “aviation town.” The airport covers 3,254 hectares, equivalent to one third of inner Paris. Meanwhile, airports in Vietnam are being narrowed.

HCM City, with 8 million people, has only one airport – Tan Son Nhat – which works as both a domestic and an international airport. This airport not only serves the 8-million-people city but many other southern provinces, with a total population of 40 million.

Hanoi, the capital city with 6 million people, also has only one airport. The Noi Bai International Airport also serves around 20 million people in the northern region. Gia Lam Airport, the first international airport of Vietnam, which is now a military airport and an airport for helicopters, should be developed into the second airport of Hanoi, not becoming a golf course.